
Class __ 

Book 

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coasmanT DEPcsir. 



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GOULDING'S 



Catholic Churches 



OF 



NE\V YORK CITY. 



ILLUSTRATED. 




J 



SAINT PATRICK'S CATHEDRAL. 

FIFTH AVENUE. 



New York's Cathedral, peerless in our land, 
Tribute of faith to Erin's saint shall stand. 




S enouy. 




X 



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^^/^^-c-^^^'/^ A- y/^'tr /r/A^___ 



THE 



CATHOLIC CHURCHES 



OP 



NEW YOKK CITY, 



WITH 



SKETCHES OF THEIR HISTORY AND LIVES OF 
THE PRESENT PASTORS. 



WITH AN INTRODUCTION ON THE EARLY HISTORY OF CATHOLICITY 

ON THE ISLAND, AND LIVES OF THE MOST REVEREND 

ARCHBISHOPS AND BISHOPS. 



EDITED BY 

JOHN aiLMARY SHEA. 



PUBLISHED WITH THE COMMENDATION OF HIS EMINENCE 

JOHN CARDINAL McOLOSKEY. 



NEW YORK: 
LAWRENCE G. GOULDING & CO. 

132, 134 AND 136 NASSAU STREET. 
1878. 




W/Vw. 



V^v. 



K^ 






^ 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in tlie j'ear One Tliousand Eight Hundred 

and Seventy-seven, 

By LAWEENCE G. GOULDING & CO., 

In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. 



ELECTROTlrED AND PRINTED BY 

THE NATIONAL PRINTING CO. 
IG, 18, 20 AND 22 Chambers Street, 

NEW YORK. 



r\ 



/ 



TO HIS EMINENCE 

JOHN CARDINAL McCLOSKEY, 

AECHBISHOP OF NEW YORK, 

THESE SKETCHES OF THE 

CATHOLIC CHUECHES OE NEW YORK CITY, 

ALL BUILT WITHIN HIS LIFETIME, 
AND IN ALL OF WHICH, AS IN ALL THAT PRECEDED THEM, 

HE HAS KNELT IN YOUTH OR OFFICIATED IN MANHOOD, AS 

PEIEST, BISHOP, AECHBISHOP, 

AND 

CARDINAL, 

ARE RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED. 











*>^%*t_- ^<'^w<^s^ J?ica- ij^ 



PREFACE 



THE work liere presented to the public shows 
perhaps more strikingly than any ordinary con- 
ception would picture the actual position of the Catholic 
body in New York City. The churches which are the 
sanctuaries of more than half the population of the great 
commercial city of the Western World; the churches which 
each Sunday are crowded by fully three-fourths of all 
church-goers in our metropolis ; tlie churches ivhere four- 
fifths of all who enter the fold of Christ by baptism re- 
ceive that sacrament; the churches whose ministry exer- 
cises a moral influence over a vast majority of the 
people — these churches are traced here from their origin, 
described by pen and pencil, and the pastors made known 
to whose hands the spiritual care is confided. The paro- 
chial schools, created instinctively by these churches, where 
by the self-sacrifice of this one denomination a perfect army 
of their children receive a gratuitous education, and whose 
numbers the public schools, with the wealth of a State 
and city at their command, can barely treble; academies 
for higher and the highest education of both sexes ; three 



6 PREFACE. 

incorporated colleges ; hospitals ; asylums for orphans, the 
uncared for babe, the aged and forsaken; homes for the 
neglected and shelterless; communities devoting their lives 
and energy to works of mercy — are all presented hero, 
briefly, indeed, for justice to their self-devotion would re- 
quire volumes. 

A general sketch of the early history of Catholicit}^ on 
this island, and of the illustrious prelates whom the succes- 
sors of St. Peter have placed in the See of New York 
since its erection, makes the picture a complete one to 
all who wish to examine and see the progress and in- 
fluence of the Catholic Church in New York City. 

It has been the aim of the publishers to make this 
a work of enduring value by calling to their aid all the 
finest work of typography and art. It is a volume to 
be a monument and a pride in every Catholic family, 
for to each the Church and its clergy have associations 
that endear them, and blend with all the joys and sorrows 
of life, their sacrifices here and their hopes hereafter. 

As the publishers have spared no outlay in collecting 
material, or on the literary and artistic execution, they 
copyright the work, and notify all that no unauthorized 
use of the contents in violation of their rights will be 
permitted. 



CONTENTS. 



PACK 

INTRODUCTION 17 



THE AEOHBISHOPS AND BISHOPS OF NEW YOEK 33 

Rt. Eev. Richard Luke Concanen, of the Order of St. Dominic, First 

Bishop of New York _ 33 

Rt. Rev. John Connolly, of the Order of St. Dominic, Second Bishop of 

New York 39 

Rt. Rev. John Du Bois, D.D., Third Bishop of New York 44 

Most Rev. John Hughes, D.D., Fourth Bishop and First Archbishop of 

New Yorlc 49 

His Eminence John Cardinal McCloskey, First Bishop of Albany, 

Second Archbishop of New York, Cardinal Priest of the Holy 

Roman Church, under the title of Sancta Maria Supra Minervam. 59 

Pastoral Letter DeDicatii^g the Churches of the Protince 

OF New York to the Sacred Heart of Jesus 72 

THE CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK CITY 81 

The Cathedral Church of St. Patrick, Mott Street 81 

Very Rev. William Quinn, Rector of the Cathedral, Vicar General 104^ 

Roll of Honor 105 

Church of St. Agnes, East Forty -third Street 107 

Rev. Harry C. Macdowall, Pastor of St. Agnes' Church. 119 

Roll of Honor 121 

Church of St. Alphonsus Liguori, South Fifth Avenue 123 

Rev. Joseph Wirth, C.SS.R.,. Pastor of St. Alphonsus' Church. . . 131 
Roll of Honor , 133 



viii CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

St. Andrew's Church, Duane Street and City Hall Place 135 

Rev. Michael Curran, Pastor of St. Andrew's Church 143 

lloll of Honor 147 

St. Ann's Church, East Twelfth Street 149 

Very Rev. Thomas S. Preston, Vicar General and Chancellor, 

Pastor of St. Ann's Church 159 

Roll of Honor 163 

Church of the Annunciation, 131st Street, Manhattanville ] 65 

Rev. Jeremiah J. Griffin, Pastor of the Church of the Annuncia- 
tion 175 

Church of St. Anthony of Padua, Sullivan Street 178 

Rev. Father Anacletus da Roccagorga, O.S.F., Pastor of the 

Church of St. Anthony of Padua 185 

Roll of Honor , 187 

Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary 189 

Roll of Honor 192 

Rev. Bernard Anthony Schwenniger, Pastor of the Church of the 
Assumption 193 

Church of St. Augustine, 170th Street, Morrisania 195 

Rev. John J. McNamee, Pastor of the Church of St. Augustine . . 201 
Roll of Honor 203 

Church of St. Bernard, West Fourteenth Street 205 

Rev. Gabriel A, Healy, Pastor of St. Bernard's Church 213 

Roll of Honor 215 

Church of St. Boniface, Second Avenue and Forty-seventh Street. . . . 217 

Rev. Matthew Nicot, Pastor of St. Boniface's Church , . 221 

Roll of Honor 222 

Church of St. Bridget, Avenue B. 224 

Roll of Honor 231 

Rev. Patrick Francis McSweeny, D.D., Pastor of St. Bridget's 
Church 233 

Church of St. Cecilia, East 105th Street 236 

Roll of Honor 240 

Rev. Hugh Flattery, Pastor of St. Cecilia's Church 241 

Church of St. Columba, West Twenty-fifth Street 244 

Roll of Honor 252 



CONTENTS. ix 

PAGE 

Rev. Michael McAleer, Pastor of St. Oolumba's Church 253 

Church of St. Cyrillus and St. Methodius (Bohemian), East Fourth 

Street 257 

Rev. A. V. Vacula, Pastor of the Church of St. Cyrillus and St. 

Methodius 261 

Churches of St. Elizabeth and St. John, Fort Washington and Kings- 
bridge 264 

Roll of Honor , 270 

Rev. Henry A. Brann, D.D., Pastor of St. Elizabeth's and St. 

John's 271 

Church of the Epiphany of Our Lord, Second Avenue 274 

Roll of Honor 282 

Rev. Richard Lalor Burtsell, D.D., Pastor of the Church of the 

Epiphany 283 

Church of St. Francis of Assisi, West Thirty-first Street 286 

Rev. Eugene Dikovich, O.S.F., Pastor of the Church of St. 

Francis of Assisi 293 

Church of St. Francis Xavier, West Sixteenth Street 296 

Roll of Honor 308 

Rev. David Merrick, S.J., Pastor of the Church of St. Francis 

Xavier 309 

Church of St. Gabriel, East Thirty-seventh Street 312 

Roll of Honor 321 

Rev. William H. Clowry, Pastor of St. Gabriel's Church 323 

Church of the Holy Cross, West Forty-second Street 326 

Roll of Honor ^. .^ 333 

Rev. Charles McCready, Pastor of the Church of the Holy Cross. 335 

Church of the Holy Innocents, West Thirty-seventh Street 338 

Roll of Honor 344 

Rev. John Larkin, Pastor of the Church of the Holy Innocents. . . 345 
Church of the Holy Name of Jesus, Ninety-seventh Street and 

Broadway 349 

Rev. James M. Galligan, Pastor of the Church of the Holy Name 

of Jesus 353 

Church of the Most Holy Redeemer, Third Street 356 

Rev. Thaddeus Anwander, C.SS.R., Rector of the Church of the 
Most Holy Redeemer 367 



X CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

Church of the Immaculate Conception, East Fourteenth Street 370 

Kev. John Edwards, Pastor of the Church of the Immaculate 

Conception, East Fourteenth Street 377 

Eoll of Honor 379 

Church of the Immaculate Conception, 151st Street, Melrose .... 381 

Roll of Honor 385 

Rev. Joseph Stumpe, Pastor of the Church of the Immaculate 

Conception, Melrose , 387 

Church of St. James, James Street 390 

Roll of Honor 401 

Rev. Felix H. Farrelly, Pastor of the Church of St. James 403 

Church of St. Jerome, Alexander Avenue and 139th Street 406 

Rev. John J. Hughes, Pastor of the Church of St. Jerome 409 

Roll of Honor 410 

Church of St. John the Baptist, West Thirtieth Street 413 

Rev. Bonaventura Frey, O. Min. Cap., Pastor of the Church of 

St. John the Baptist 423 

Church of St. John the Evangelist, Fifteenth Street 426 

Roll of Honor 436 

Rev. James McMahon, Pastor of the Church of St. John the 

Evangelist 437 

Church of St. Joseph, Sixth Avenue and West Washington Place 440 

Eoll of Honor 450 

Rev. Thomas Farrell, Pastor of the Church of St. Joseph 451 

Church of St. Joseph (German), East Eighty-seventh Street, York- 

ville , 454 

Eoll of Honor 458 

Eev. Joseph Durthaller, S. J., Pastor of the Church of St. Joseph, 

Yorkville 459 

Church of St. Joseph (German), 125th Street and Ninth Avenue, Man- 

hattanville 462 

Roll of Honor 464 

Rev. Anthony Kesseler, Pastor of the Church of St. Joseph, 

Manhattanville 465 

Churct of St. Joseph, Washington Avenue, near 176th Street, Tre- 

mont 468 

Rev. Nicholas J. S.Tonner, Pastor of St. Joseph's Church,Tremont. 471 



CONTENTS. xi 

PAGE 

Church of St. Lawrence O'Toole, Eighty-fourth Street, near Fourth 

Avenue, Yorkville 474 

Rev. Father John A. Treanor, S. J., Pastor of the Church of St. 

Lawrence O'Toole 479 

Roll of Honor 481 

Church of St. Mary, Grand Street 483 

Roll of Honor 503 

Rev. Edward J. O'Reilly, Pastor of the Church of St. Mary 505 

Church of St. Mary Magdalen, East Seventeenth Street 509 

Rev. Adam Francis Tonner, Pastor of the Church of St. Mary 

Magdalen 511 

Roll of Honor 511 

Church of St. Michael, West Thirty-second Street . . . . , 515 

Roll of Honor 521 

Rev. Arthur J. Donnelly, Pastor of the Church of St. Michael . . . 523 

Church of the Nativity of Our Lord, Second Avenue 527 

Roll of Honor 532 

Rev. William Everett, Pastor of the Church of the Nativity 533 

Church of St. Nicholas, Second Street 536 

Roll of Honor. 544 

Rev. F. J. Shadier, Pastor of the Church of St. Nicholas 545 

Church of Our Lady of Mercy, Fordham 548 

Roll of Honor 552 

Rev. John Fitzpatrick, S. J., Pastor of the Church of Our Lady of 

Mercy 553 

Church of Our Lady of the Seven Dolors (Our Lady of Sorrows), Pitt 

Street 556 

Roll of Honor 560 

Rev. Father Laurentius Vorwerk, O. Min. Cap., Superior at the . 

Church of the Seven Dolors 561 

Church of St. Paul, East 117th Street, Harlem 564 

Rev, Eugene Maguire, Pastor of the Church of St. Paul, Harlem. 569 

Roll of Honor 571 

Church of St. Paul the Apostle, West Fifty-ninth Street, near Ninth 

Avenue ^ 573 

Rev. Isaac T. Hecker, Pastor of the Church of St. Paul the 

Apostle _ ^ . . . 579 



xii ■ CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

Roll of Honor (Church of St. Paul the Apostle) 583 

Church of St. Peter, Barclay Street 586 

Rev. Michael J. O'Farrell, Pastor of the Church of St. Peter ... 621 

Roll of Honor 624 

Church of St. Rose of Lima, Cannon Street 626 

Rev. Richard Brennan, Pastor of the Church of St. Rose of Lima. 635 

Roll of Honor 637 

Church of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, West Fifty -first Street ... 639 

Roll of Honor 642 

Rev. Martin J. Brophy, Pastor of the Church of the Sacred Heart 

of Jesus 643 

Church of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, High Bridge 645 

Roll of Honor 648 

Rev. James Augustine Mullin, Pastor of "the Church of the 

Sacred Heart of Jesus, New York City." 649 

Church of St. Stanislaus, Stanton Street 651 

Rev. Francis X. Wayman, Pastor of St. Stanislaus' Church 655 

Church of St. Stephen, Twenty-eighth Street 658 

Roll of Honor 697 

Rev. E. McGlynn, D.D., Pastor of St. Stephen's Church 671 

Church of St. Teresa, Rutgers Street 673 

Roll of Honor 680 

Rev. Michael C. O'Farrell, Pastor of St. Teresa's Church 683 

Church of the Transfiguration, Mott Street 687 

Rev. James H. McGean, Pastor of Transfiguration Church 697 

Roll of Honor 699 

Church of St. Vincent de Paul, West Twenty-third Street 702 

Rev. Edmond Aubril, Pastor of St. Vincent de Paul's Church, . 715 

Roll of Honor 716 

Church of St. Vincent Ferrer, Lexington Avenue 718 

Roll of Honor 722 

Rev. Father Joseph H. Slinger, O.V., Pastor of St. Vincent Fer- 
rer's Church , , 723 

Church of Our Lady of the Holy Rosary (Mortuary Chapel of Calvary 

Cemetery) 724 

INSTITUTIONS. 
St. John's College, Fordham 728 



CONTENTS. xiii 

PAGE 

College of St. Francis Xavier 729 

Manhattan College 730 

De la Salle Institute 730 

Manhattan Academy 731 

The Sisters of Charity (Mount St. Vincent's Academy, local Acade- 
mies, Asylums, Hospitals) 732 

Ladies of the Sacred Heart 737 

Academy of the Sacred Heart, Manhattanvillo 739 

Academy of the Sacred Heart, Seventeenth Street 739 

The Sisters of Mercy 740 

Sisters of the Good Shepherd 742 

The Little Sisters of the Poor 744 

The Sisters Marianites of the Holy Cross 744 

Ursulines 745 

The Missionary Sisters of the Third Order of St. Francis 745 

The Sisters of the Poor of St. Francis 746 

The School Sisters of Notre Dame 746 

The Sisters of the Order of St. Dominic 747 

St. Michael's Convent of the Presentation Nuns 747 

The Sisters of Christian Charity 747 

The Mission of the Immaculate Virgua 748 

ILLUSTRATIONS. 
Portrait of his Eminence Cardinal McOlosbey, frontispiece. 
St. Patrick's Cathedral, Mott Street, destroyed by fire October 6, 1866. . 78 

St. Patrick's Cathedral Rebuilt 80 

Church of St. Agnes, East Forty-third Street 106 

Rev. Harry 0. Macdowall, Pastor of St. Agnes' Church, faces 119 

Church of St. Alphonsus Liguori, South Fifth Avenue 122 

Church of St. Andrew, Duane Street and City Hall Place 134 

Rev. Michael Curran, Pastor of St. Andrew's Church, faces 143 

Church of St. Ann, East Twelfth Street 148 

Very Rev. Thomas S. Preston, V.G., Pastor of St. Ann's Church, faces 159 

Church of the Annunciation, 131st Street 164 

Rev. Jeremiah J. Griffin, Pastor of the Church of the Annunciation, 

faces 175 

Church of St. Anthony, Sullivan Street 177 

Rev. Father Anacletus da Roccagorga, O.S.F., Pastor of St. Anthony's 

Chm-ch, faces 185 



xiv CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

Church of the Assumption, West Forty-ninth Street 188 

Rev. Bernard Anthony Schwenniger, Pastor of the Church of the 

Assumption, faces 193 

• Church of St. Augustine, 170th Street, Morrisania 194 

Rev. John J. McNamee, Pastor of St. Augustine's Church, faces 201 

Church of St. Bernard, West Fourteenth Street 204 

Rev. Gabriel A. Healy, Pastor of St. Bernard's Church, faces 213 

Church of St. Boniface, Second Avenue and Forty-seventh Street .... 217 

Rev. Matthew Nicot, Pastor of St. Boniface's Church, faces 221 

Church of St. Bridget, Avenue B 223 

Rev. Patricia F. McSweeny, D.D., Pastor of St. Bridget's Chui-ch, faces. 233 

Church of St. Cecilia, East 105th Street 235 

Rev. Hugh Flattery, Pastor of St. Cecilia's Church, faces 241 

Church of St. Columba, West Twenty-fifth Street 243 

Rev. Michael McAleer, Pastor of the Church of St. Columba, faces. . . 253 
Rev. A. V. Vacula, Pastor of the Church of St. Oyrillus and St. 

Methodius, faces 261 

Church of St. Elizabeth, West 137th Street 263 

Rev. Henry A. Brann, Pastor of Elizabeth's and St. John's, faces 271 

Church of the Epiphany, Second Avenue 273 

Rev. Richard Lalor Burtsell, D.D., Pastor of the Church of the Epi- 
phany, faces 283 

Church of St. Francis of Assisi, Thirty -first Street, between Sixth and 

Seventh Avenues 286 

Rev. Eugene Dikovich, O.S.F., Pastor of the Church of St. Francis of 

Assisi, faces 293 

Church of St. Francis Xavier, West Sixteenth Street , 295 

Church of St. Gabriel, East Thirty-seventh Street 311 

Rev. William H. Clowry, Pastor of the Church of St. Gabriel, faces. . . 323 

Church of the Holy Cross, West Forty-second Street 325 

Rev. Charles McCready, Pastor of the Church of the Holy Cross, faces 335 

Church of the Holy Innocents, West Thirty-seventh Street 337 

Rev. John Larkin, Pastor of the Church of the Holy Innocents, faces. 345 
Church of the Holy Name of Jesus, Boulevard, near West Ninety- 
seventh Street 348 

Rev. James M. Galligan, Pastor of the Church of the Holy Name, faces 353 
Church of the Most Holy Redeemer, Third Street 355 



CONTENTS. XV 

PAGE 

Churcli of the Immaculate Conception, East Fourteenth Street 369 

Rev. John Edwards, Pastor of the Church of the Immaculate Concep- 
tion, faces 377 

Church of the Immaculate Conception, 151st Street 380 

Eev. Joseph Stumpe, Pastor of the Church of the Immaculate Concep- 
tion, Melrose, faces 387 

Church of St. James, James Street 389 

Eev. Felix H. Farrelly, Pastor of St. James' Church, faces ...... 403 

Church of St. Jerome, 137th Street 405 

Eev. John J. Hughes, Pastor of the Church of St. Jerome, faces 409 

Church of St. John the Baptist, West Thirtieth Street 414 

Veiy Eev. Father Bonaventura Frey, 0. Min. Cap., Pastor of the 

Church of St. John the Baptist, faces 423 

Church of St. John the Evangelist, East Fiftieth Street 425 

Eev. James McMahon, Pastor of St. John the Evangelist, faces 437 

Church of St. Joseph, Sixth Avenue 439 

Eev, Thomas Farrell, Pastor of St. Joseph's Church, faces. 451 

Church of St. Joseph (German), East Eighty-seventh Street 453 

Eev. Joseph Durthaler, Pastor of St. Joseph's Church, Yorkville, faces. 459 

Church of St. Joseph (German), West 125th Street 461 

Eev. Anthony Kesseler, Pastor of St. Joseph's Church, Manhattan- 

ville, faces ^ 465 

Church of St. Joseph (German), Washington Avenue, near 176th Street. 467 
Eev. Nicholas J. S. Touner, Pastor of St. Joseph's Church, Tremont, 

faces 471 

Church of St. Lawrence O'Toole, Eighty-fourth Street 473 

Church of St. Mary, Grand Street 482 

Rev. Edward J. O'Reilly, Pastor of St. Mary's Church, faces 505 

Church of St. Mary Magdalen, East Seventeenth Street 508 

Church of St. JMichael, West Thirty-second Street 512 

Rev. Arthur J. Donnelly, Pastor of St. Michael's Chiirch, faces 523 

Church of the Nativity of Our Lord, Second Avenue , - 526 

Eev. William Everett, Pastor of the Church of the Nativity, faces .... 533 

Chm-ch of St. Nicholas, Second Street 535 

Church of Our Lady of Jlercy, Fordham 547 

Church of Our Lady of the Seven Dolors, Pitt Street 555 

Church of St. Paul, East 117th Street 563 



xvi CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

Rev. Eugene Maguire, Pastor of St.. Paul's Cliuroh, Harlem, faces. . . , 569 

Church of St. Paul the Apostle, West Fifty-ninth Street 572 

Very Rev. Isaac T. Hecker, Pastor of the Church of St. Paul the 

Apostle, faces 579 

Church of St. Peter, Barclay Street 585 

Rev. Michael J. O'Earrell, Pastor of St. Peter's Church, faces 621 

Church of St. Peter, built in 1786, taken down in 1836 623 

Church of St. Rose of Lima, Cannon Street 625 

Eev. Richard Brennan, Pastor of the Church of St. Rose of Lima, faces. 635 

Church of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, West Fifty -first Street 638 

Rev. Martin J. Brophy, Pastor of the Church of the Sacred Heart of 

Jesus, faces 643 

Church of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, High Bridge 644 

Church of St. Stanislaus, Stanton Street 650 

Rev. Francis X. Wayuian, Pastor of St. Stanislaus' Church, faces .... 655 

Church of St. Stephen, East Twenty-eighth Street 657 

Rev. E. McGlynn, D.D., Pastor of St. Stephen's Church, faces 671 

Church of St. Teresa, Rutgers Street 673 

Rev. Michael 0. O'Farrell, Pastor of St. Teresa's Church, faces 683 

Church of the Transfigui-ation, Mott Street 686 

Rev. James H. McGean, Pastor of Transfiguration Church, faces. . . . 697 

Church of St. Vincent de Paul, West Twenty-third Street 701 

Rev. Edmond Aubril, Pastor of St. Vincent de Paul's Church, faces . . 715 

Church of St. Vincent Ferrer, Lexington Avenue 717 

Convent of the Sacred Heart, Manhattanville 738 



INTRODUCTION. 



THE Catholic Clmrclies in New York City comprise 
the new Cathedral of St. Patrick, the noblest 
and finest temple erected to the worship of Almighty God 
in the Western world, and fifty-four chm'ches, many of 
them elegant and spacious structures, elaborate in their 
adornment, not adapted to any capricious taste of the 
day, but ever-speaking monuments that in the midst of 
the world and the worldly proclaim that all is vanity 
excejDt loving God and serving Him alone. 

They are unmistakably churches, erected for divine 
worship and at personal sacrifice. They are permanent, 
not to pass after a few years to ignoble uses, but devoted 
for all time to their holy purpose. 

Nor are they merely for the gratification of a fcAv 
rich worshipers, with a thin congregation scattered tlirough 
a vast nave. They are the churches of full one-lialf the 
population of the great commercial city of America, 

crowded not once only, but at successive services every 

2 



18 INTRODUCTION. 

Sunday and holiday, and each time by a new congrega- 
tion come to adore God in spirit and in truth. 

They have been built mainly by the contributions, 
freely and generously given, of those who depended on 
their daily exertions in some department of honest toil 
for their own support and advancement. This gives even 
the poorest and humblest Catholic a personal interest in 
the most splendid of these ecclesiastical glories of our 
metropolis. As the church which he has helped to rear, 
where he has joined in the holy sacrifice, been fed with 
the Bread of Life, where he has perhaps been united to 
the truly Christian wife by the holy ties of sacramental 
marriage, where his children have been enrolled in the 
church by baptism — as all this, it is more near and more 
dear to him than an earthly home. He looks up to its 
Gothic arch or its fretted ceiling, to all the rich tracery 
of the altar, the breathing pictures, the vestments and 
sacred vessels worthy of the service of God, and feels 
that they are his ; and that, beautiful as they may be, 
they are but a faint image of the glorious things pre- 
pared for him hereafter, if he is but faithful to the 
end. 

It is only when they at last begin to fathom what 
the Church is to the Catholic, that those separated from 
us can begin to understand why we are so ready to 
make any sacrifice to rear a worthy temple to the Most 
High, and all the more ready as our faith is purer, 



EARLY HISTORY. 19 

deeper, stronger; and this is more clearly seen in those 
who have not been led away by that insatiate desire 
for worldly affluence and prosperity which has been the 
bane and destruction of so many. 

Every Catholic church in New York City has been 
erected or rebuilt within the last fifty years, and most 
of them within the last two decades. How great, then, 
have been the sacrifices ! for the church never stands 
alone. There is scarce a parish which has not a suit- 
able residence for the clergy, fine parochial schools, and 
within its limits an asylum, industrial school, academy, 
college — some institution for the diffusion of learning, or 
the relief of spiritual and temporal wants. 

As the creations of some monarch with the revenues 
of a kingdom, these churches would in the pages of 
history have given perpetual lustre to his name ; and cer- 
tainly the meed of praise that would justly be bestowed 
on one man, is as deservedly due to tho Catholics of all 
races and lands who, gathered here, have shown that in 
their love and attachment to their holy Faith, they had 
but one heart and one soul. 

When the Catholic navigator, Verrazzano, and the 
Catholic Gomez, about the year 1525, entered the mag- 
nificent Bay of New York, and marked the green sum- 
mits of the Highlands of Navesink, and the shores clad 
in forest and verdant meads, they were charmed with its 
beauties. Beside the ship bearing the flag of France or 



20 INTRODUCTION. 

Spain, no vessel then rippled tlie surface but the frail 
canoe of the natives, which darted wonderingly across 
its waters. 

" The very large river that forced its way amid hills 
to empty into the sea," as one described it, received the 
name of St. Anthony, and Catholicity set her cross of pos- 
session on the soil. But it would have been a wild dream 
to imagine that in tln-ee centuries and a half the Church 
against which half Europe seemed rising in revolt would 
have planted tlu-ee episcopal sees on the shores of that 
bay, its waters lave the borders of tliree dioceses, one 
presided over by a prince of the Church. Who could 
foresee that the rocky island at the mouth of the river, 
with its lake and streams and scattered wigwams, would 
give place to a city, with a Catholic jjopulation far ex- 
ceeding that of many a city in the Old World, with an 
array of churches such as it is our purpose to trace 
from their origin to their present condition of spiritual 
grandeur and usefulness? 

If these Catholic pioneers had any aspiration for 
the future of the faith, these hopes were rudely broken, 
when, nearly a century after their visit, Henry Hudson, 
a native of fallen England, led the ships of Calvinistic 
Holland into our glorious bay, and, giving his own name 
to the river, left the Dutch to name the city and set- 
tlement they founded, New Amsterdam. 

For a time the Catholic history is a blank. In the 



EARLY HISTORY. 21 

new colony no religion was tolerated except the Calvin- 
ist. The Catholic Hollander who had fought bravely be- 
side his Protestant fellow-citizen against the Spanish rule 
was rewarded by being deprived of all political power. 
He could not even emigrate to America; but we are 
nevertheless requested to praise Holland for establishing 
religious liberty. 

The few Catholics who reached New Netherland 
were sent by misery, accident, or trade. In 1643, when 
the settlement was twenty-eight years old, a Catholic 
priest, a hero of the faith, torn and mangled by the 
barbarous Mohawks, and broken down by a year's 
slavery, was ransomed by the kind-hearted Hollanders, 
and brought to the island where New York now stands. 
In the little hamlet clustered under the rude fort, the 
heroic priest. Father Isaac Jogues, the pioneer priest of 
New York City and State, found but two Catholics — a 
Portuguese Avoman, and a young Irishman from Mary- 
land; and the ministry of the Church began with the 
sacrament of penance. His stay was but a brief one, 
but it inspired the people with respect for a religion 
that could produce such heroes. 

This missionary had scarcely sailed for Europe when 
another. Father Francis Joseph Bressani, a native of It- 
aly, fell into the hands of the blood-tliirsty savages ; and 
he, too, rescued by the Dutch from slavery, descended 
the Hudson to New Amsterdam. If there were any 



22 INTEODUCTION. 

Catholics he did not find them diu-ing his brief stay 
within the hospitable walls of the Dutch town. Of 
course, in their destitute condition, neither of these 
priests, without chalice or vestments, could have offered 
up the holy sacrifice in our city. When Father Jogues, 
a few years later, was rewarded for his laborious mis- 
sion-life by the crown of martyrdom, some of his vest- 
ments and sacred vessels reached New York, precious 
relics of a holy priest. 

New York has ever been cosmopolitan in its char- 
acter, and the beginnings of the Catholic Church in this 
city are no less so. The first four Catholics recorded as 
having been on the island belonged to as many differ- 
ent nations — a type of the diversity which prevails to 
this day, when the Catholic flock and its clergy show 
representatives from almost every land and clime. 

After that visit of these two priests, a Jesuit Father 
from Canada occasionally made his way to New Am- 
sterdam, and generally found, among the sliipping in the 
harbor, some Catholic, happy to avail himself of the 
ministry of a priest. Such were the flying visits of 
Fathers Le Moyne and Vaillant 

But during the Dutch rule, Catholics were few and 
transient. The Church had no foothold on Manhattan 
Island. One day, in midsummer of 1664, however, a 
squadron of four English vessels, bearing the flag of the 
Catholic Duke of York, as Lord High Admiral, entered 



EAELY HISTORY. 



23 



the bay, and the group of officers on their decks gazed 
with dehght on the fair prospect as they anchored near 
the Narrows. They came to claim the colony for 
James, Duke of York, on whom liis brother, Charles II., 
ignoring the Dutch title, had conferred it. 

Under the new rule, religious freedom was at last 
proclaimed. The new colony of New York was opened 
to our faith. Lieutenant Anthony BrockhoUs, of a Cath- 
olic family in Lancasliii'e, came over in 1674, as second 
to Governor Andros in the direction of the colony, 
which was indeed ably governed for several years by 
this accomplished gentleman, some of whose descendants 
in our day have returned to the faith he professed. 
A few Catholic settlers arrived, and James at last resolv- 
ed to make such arrangements that they should be able 
to worship God in the free air of the New World ac- 
cording to the dictates of their conscience. The Jesuits 
had for half a centmy zealously attended to the spirit- 
ual wants of the Catholics on the Chesapeake. They now 
extended then- care to New York. When the brave, po- 
litic and able Colonel Thomas Dongan, an Irish Catholic 
of noble family, came out as Governor, in 1683, Father 
Thomas Harvey accompanied him; Catholic Governor and 
Catholic priest alike being escorted out of Boston, where 
they landed, by the Puritan militia of that place. 

Father Henry Harrison had preceded him, and be- 
gun his labors in June ; and Father Charles Gage, with 



24 INTRODUCTION. 

two lay brothers, soon followed. The little mission was 
organized to minister to the Catliolics in the proAdnce, 
and replace the French missionaries among the Indians 
within the limits claimed by England. 

A room was fitted np as a chapel in the Governor's 
house within the fort, and here, for the first time, mass 
was offered in the City of New York. Opposite tlie 
Bowling Green, where the statue of the last British royal 
ruler once stood, is now a row of buildings looking up 
the brilliant kaleidoscope of Broadway, with its ever-chang- 
ing waves of the votaries of fashion, commerce, and toil. 
These buildings occupy nearly the site of the old fort, 
and not far from the center of the row was the spot 
hallowed by the first mass ever offered on the Island 
of New York. Here, in a private oratory, mass was said — 
the little congregation consisting of the Governor and some 
Catholic officers and gentry, in all the bravery of the 
gay reign of Charles II., relieved by contrast with the 
soberer garb of the humbler adherents of the ancient 
faith. 

The Fathers found Catholics scattered tln-oughout the 
various settlements of New York and New Jersey, and 
we can trace their ministrations from Esopus to Staten 
Island, Woodbridge, and Elizabeth; but the general feeling 
was unfriendly. 

Education has ever been the aim of the Society of 
Jesus ; and these Fathers, true to their mission, opened a 



EAELY HISTORY. 25 

Latin School on the grounds now occupied by the stately 
edifice of Trinity Church. It was the first educational 
institution of the kind in the city, and was attended by 
the sons of the best families, eager to avail themselves of 
the advantages it afforded. 

Under the wise and able rule of James, and the 
Governors appointed by him, civil and religious liberty 
were secured to the colonists, in the grand New York 
Charter of 1683, and in the Legislature which was es- 
tablished and which passed the charter. Then Catholics 
began to settle in a colony which offered them a home 
and the rights their manhood claimed. Many of these 
were 2:)ersons of means, education, and ability, who would 
have been singularly serviceable to the colony. 

While Catholicity was thus acquiring a home in New 
York, and in the minds of the more intelligent some of the 
veils of prejudice were lifting, the horizon suddenly chang- 
ed. James II. was hurled from the throne. When the 
news reached New York, Leisler, a fanatic maniac, seized 
the reigns of government, and commenced a system of 
terror. In his mad delirium he saw nothing but Popish 
plots, Jesuit conspiracies. William of Orange looked on 
in sublime unconcern at the ruin of New York, as if 
pleased to see the province peculiar to his predecessor 
reduced to the utmost misery. 

The Catholic clergy, no longer safe, left the colony; 
one to reach Maryland by devious ways, the others to 



26 INTRODUCTION. 

return to Europe. The Catholics of means who' had settled 
removed to other parts ; some to Canada, some to other 
English colonies. Those who remained in order to save 
their property made no show of their faith, and in the 
next generation Dongan and Brockholls ceased to be Catho- 
lic names in the Colony of New York. 

Under Governor Fletcher, in 169G, the number of 
Catholics in the city, according to an official report made 
to him and transmitted to England, was only nine. 

Yet the fanatical hatred aroused by Leisler lived, and 
the next Governor, the Earl of Bellomont, was of a temper 
to give it a most fiendish character. Coming from Ireland, 
where his father. Colonel Coote, had been one of the blood- 
iest butchers of the Irish Catholics in Cromwell's time, 
Bellomont inherited all the sanguinary ferocity of the 
father, combined with the slirewder statecraft of the un- 
principled politicians of his time. 

By his personal influence and vote in council, the 
New York Legislature, abandoning its broad charter of 
liberties for one less comprehensive and manly, passed, in 
1700, a law by which any Catholic priest entering the 
colony or its limits, as claimed by England, was con- 
demned to imprisonment for life. If he escaped from 
bondage and was recaptured, the anointed priest of God 
was to swing on a gallows, like a murderer. 

In the same spirit was the law that any one who 
harbored a priest, who gave him a night's shelter or a 



EARLY HISTORY. 27 

meal, was punished by a heavy fine and the pillory. 
Other enactments disabled Catholics from holding any office 
or even casting a vote for any civil or military position in 
the colony. With a name that recalled its Catholic Lord 
Proprietor, New York excluded Catholics from its borders. 

For years Catholics were almost unknown in the City 
and Colony of New York. During the wars with Spain, 
the privateers occasionally brought a priest into our harbor, 
among the prisoners taken on the vessels; and the rec- 
ords show how shamefully they were insulted and wronged. 
The negroes in the Spanish Colonies were instructed in 
Christianity, and ennobled by its hopes ; but every Spanish 
negro captured in these vessels, though free by Spanish 
law, was sold as a slave in New York. The priest and 
his white countrymen were finally released, but the negro 
remained to represent the faith. 

In 1741, a wild delusion seized the town. An ac- 
cidental fire in the fort was ascribed to a plot among 
the negroes to destroy the city. The Spanish negroes be- 
came especial objects of terror. Many negroes and some 
whites were arrested, and perished on the scaffold or at 
the stake, convicted on the loosest and most unsatisfactory 
evidence. A belief gained ground that a Catholic priest 
was the originator of the supposed plot. A harmless, non- 
juring clergyman from England, who had been acting as 
an humble teacher, was tried; and, as justice and com- 
mon sense alike had fled, poor Ury was hung. 



28 INTRODUCTION. 

With such a fate before them, few Cathohcs dare enter 
New York. Ahuost the first one who makes any figure was 
John Leary, who resided in Courthindt street, and became 
popular with the gentry as one wlio kept and imported 
horses, famed for their excellence. The street often went 
by his name. His rehgion was avowed; and the popu- 
lar rumor of the day assures us that he did not neglect 
his Easter duty, but that he went every year to Pliila- 
delphia for confession. 

In 1755, a number of Catholics entered New York 
City. They were not prisoners of war, for they had long 
been British subjects ; they were not rebels, for they had 
done nothing against government. They were the unhappy 
Acadians of Nova Scotia, who, as Popish recusants, had 
been deprived of their estates and property, and carried 
off", to the number of seven thousand, to be scattered along 
the coast from New Hamj)shire to Georgia. 

Several hundred reached New York; but in the Gov- 
ernor, Sir Charles Hardy, they found an inexorable enemy. 
They were scattered tlu'ough the colony, the children 
bound out, the adults put to labor. At every alarm they 
were huddled into the jails. Some, who had made their 
way from Georgia and South Carolina, were seized on 
reaching Long Island, in the following year, and treated 
with even greater cruelty. 

The several hundi'ed Acadian Catholics melted away: 
many dying of broken hearts ; many perishing from the 



EARLY HISTORY. 29 

noxious air and filth of the prisons of that day ; many, 
used in their own land to ease and comfort, breaking 
down prematurely under the unaccustomed toil. Others 
escaped to Canada or Illinois — perhaps by way of the 
Six Nations, who, Indians as they were, were less cruel 
than the whites. 

Tliis body of compulsory emigrants did not form a 
permanent body of Catholics in New York, and no trace 
of them appears thirty years later. 

Among the class known as Redemptioners — those who 
were sold at auction for a term of service, in order to 
pay their passage money — were, doubtless, not a few 
Catholics, about this time, both German and Irish. Their 
number did not equal that in Pennsylvania, where Catho- 
licity had from the first enjoyed a degree of freedom. 

The little body of Catholics that had grown up in 
the City of New York a hundred and ten years ago, 
began to long for the occasional visit of a priest. Few 
could afford what was then a long and tedious journey to 
Philadelphia, in order to approach the sacraments, and 
have marriages blessed and children baptized. They were 
too few in number to make any effort to secure a per- 
manent pastor, to whom they could offer no adequate sup- 
port. But Providence did not forsake them. In spite of 
penal laws and the bitter prejudices prevailing, the Jesuit 
Fathers in Philadelphia gradually extended their pastoral 
visits to scattered Catholics in New Jersey; and just be- 



30 INTRODUCTION. 

fore the Revolution the Rev. Ferdinand Steinmeyr — known 
on the mission by the name of Farmer — entered New 
York. He was a man of great learning, a mathematician 
of such excellence that the Royal Society of London elect- 
ed him a member. He was more than the equal of the 
learned New York Governor, Cadwallader Golden ; but he 
had to enter the city in disguise, and reach Wall street 
without exciting observation; there, as tradition says, to 
meet a few Catholics in the house of a good German. 

When the colonies rose against England, the feeling 
against the mother country was combined with the old 
cry against the Catholics. The first flag raised by the 
Sons of Liberty in New York was inscribed " No Popery." 
An Irish priest, who had entered the colony and ministered 
to some Scotch Catholics, fled with his flock, before the 
rising storm, to the more tolerant soil of Canada. 

The English army took and held New York. Among 
its soldiery, both from the British Isles and Germany, 
there were Catholics, who had enjoyed the services of 
priests in Canada, but were allowed none in New York. 
A French Augustinian priest, who had been brought in 
a prisoner, ventured to officiate for the Catholics in the 
city, who, on learning his character, had eagerly sought 
to enjoy the consolations of religion. He had been pa- 
roled, and did not suppose that English authorities, who 
allowed the Catholic priest to exercise his ministry in 
Canada, would take umbrage at his doing the same in 



EAKLY HISTORY. 31 

New York. He applied to the commanding officer for per- 
mission, and, mistaking- the answer, proceeded to offer up 
the Holy Sacrifice. He was at once arrested and kept in 
close confinement, like the unfortunate American prisoners, 
perhaps undergoing the horrors suffered in the old Dutch 
Church in Nassau street, or the old Provost Prison, now 
the Hall of Records. 

Down to the days of the Revolution, not only was 
Catholicity proscribed and the Catholic worship prohibited 
by a terrilDle penal law, but every Protestant who held 
any office under the colony had to take an oath that 
he believed none of the characteristic articles of the 
Catholic faith. 

''I do solemnly and sincerely, in the presence of 
God, profess, testifie and declare, that I do believe that 
in the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper there is not any 
Transubstantiation of the elements of Bread and Wine 
into the Body and Blood of Clmst, at or after the con- 
secration thereof by any person whatsoever; and that the 
invocation or adoration of the Virgin Mary or any other 
Saint, and the Sacrifice of the Mass, as they are now used 
in the Church of Rome, are superstitious and idolatrous." 

Such was the history of Catholicity in New York, from 
the time its Catholic explorers raised aloft in its waters 
the symbol of its triumphs — visits of heroic missionaries 
covered with wounds ; a brief period in the rule and reign 
of James II., as Duke and King, when the Church had 



32 ' INTRODUCTIOif. 

pastors, school, a flock ; a period under the penal laws, 
when Catholicity was under the ban; and at last deliver- 
ance by a Revolution, which, in its outset, seemed bitterly 
hostile to the Church. 

When peace came, the Catholics looked around for 
each other. They found that they were really a consider- 
able body, able to support a pastor. Then came repre- 
sentatives of foreign powers — consuls of France, Spain, 
Portugal, and Germany. While New York was capital 
of the United States, foreign ministers from Catholic powers 
resided here, and were courted by the highest society; 
several Catholic members of Congress also lived here dur- 
ing the sessions of that body. With the prestige given 
by these personages, and by Catholic merchants of means 
who made the city a home. Catholics no longer felt that 
they were helots. They were freemen in a free land. 



THE 



Archbishops and Bishops of New York. 



RT. EEV. RICHARD LUKE CONCANEN, D.D., 

OF THE OEDER OF ST. DOMINIC. 
FIRST BISHOP OF NEW YOEK. 



THE splendor of the Catholic Church in this country, 
as we see it in our time, towards the close of the 
nineteenth century, with a hierarchy, an Archbishop residing- 
in New York — holding, too, one of the highest dignities 
in the Church, that of Cardinal Priest — Suffi-agan Bishops 
throughout the State, and the neighboring State that 
was in old time part of New York, with magnificent 
churches, the services carried out with splendor, accord- 
ing to the impressive ritual of our Holy Mother — all 
this could not have been dreamed of in the beginning 
of the present age. 

A hundred years ago the Catholic gifted with fore- 
sight who should have told his Protestant neighbors that 
such things would ever be, would have been deemed 
insane. 

The few Catholics in New York had no church, 

no priest, no bishop. Those in Pennsylvania and Mary- 
3 



34 INTRODUCTION. 

land were more blessed; yet nowhere throughout this 
beautiful land, from which the united arms and courage 
and endurance and wisdom of Protestant and Catholic, 
side by side in the council hall and in the battle-field, 
had at last banished their old oppressors, had a Cath- 
olic bishop ever been seen. 

The missionaries who in the days of James II. laid 
the corner-stone of our Church in this city, organizing 
a congregation in their little chapel within the walls of 
Fort James, were under the spiritual jurisdiction of Dr. 
John Leyburn, Vicar Apostolic, first of all England and 
then of the London District. 

The Catholics in the colonies — and among the rest 
those who, at a later day, with many misgivings at- 
tempted, or were forced to fix their home in New York — 
looked up to the successors of Bishop Leybui-n as their 
prelate ; but none had ever crossed the ocean. A bishop 
was personally unknown. 

When the country recovered from the exhausting 
war, the new governments in most of the States left 
religion comparatively free. The Catholics in America at 
last received a bishop, in the person of the venerated 
John CaiToll, first Bishop, as he was later, first Arch- 
bishop of Baltimore. 

His diocese was the whole United States, as fixed 
by the treaty of peace. He could not visit it all, but 
he did visit New York, and gave an impulse to the 



EAKLY HISTORY. 35 

faith. Under the guidance of that great prelate, the 
Irish, the German, and a few American Cathohcs, began 
to form prosperous congregations. New York, in its re- 
Hgious hfe, throve under the fostering care of the illus- 
trious Archbishop Carroll. Hi's grand and noble figure is 
associated with the early annals of the Church in our 
city ; here, as elsewhere, guiding pastors and flocks with 
the rare judgment and singular gifts mth which God 
endowed him in selecting him to be the corner-stone 
of the hierarchy of the Catholic Chiirch in the United 
States. 

But he felt from the first that the diocese in its 
vast extent was beyond his power, or that of any one 
bishop, to direct properly. His mission, he felt, was to 
organize, harmonize, and quicken the Catholic body, so 
that when it had a life of its own, it could be divided 
into different dioceses without leading to inevitable con- 
fusion. 

The increase in New York was, he saw, mainly 
from the green shores of Ireland; increasing when the 
gallant struggle for freedom was crushed in blood, and 
the very national existence was swept away. He appre- 
ciated the zeal, fervor, and undying faith of the Irish 
Catholics ; and he looked forward to the appointment of 
some gifted priest of the land of St. Patrick, St. Bridget, 
and St. Columbkille, to build up the stately edifice of 
Catholicity in New York. And we see the same 



3G INTEODUCTION. 

thought in the suggestion of the name of the Apostle of 
Ireland as titular of a cathedral. 

'' The number of Catholic congregations daily spring- 
ing up in every direction," wrote this great prelate, 
"has at last induced Pius VII., the present venerable 
Pontiff, who, in the midst of tribulations most bitter to 
nature, but equally glorious in his Divine Master, so 
worthily fills the Pontifical chair, to erect Baltimore into 
a Metropolis or Archbishoprick, and to establish four new 
su&agan dioceses, namely. New York, Philadelphia, Bos- 
ton, and Bardstown." 

Addressing the faithful in the new dioceses now 
passing under other spiritual heads. Archbishop Carroll 
says : " To multiply the means of salvation and increase 
vigilance over the sacred interests of religion, bishops 
ever present and near to them are now to be given to 
the separate portions of this once so extensive diocese, 
Boston, Philadelphia, New York, and ye vast countries 
of Kentucky, Tennessee, and Mississippi. The Lord has 
spoken to Peter, Peter by his successors to Pius VIL, 
and the apostolical succession begins after so many ages 
to display itself to you, that it may be continued 
through your chief pastors, even to the remotest pos- 
terity." 

For the See of New York, that illustrious Pope se- 
lected a learned, able, and courageous Irish priest, well 
known at Rome, and particularly dear to the Holy Father, 



EARLY HISTOEY. 37 

Father Richard Luke Concanen, of the Order of St. 
Dominic, whose merit had already caused his nomination 
to a see in Ireland, and who had been prior of con- 
vents of his order at Lisbon and Rome, and Librarian 
of the famous Casanate Library. 

He was consecrated at Rome on the 24th of April, 
1808, by Cardinal Antonelli, Prefect of the Congregation 
of the Propaganda. The Catholics of New York looked 
forward with pleasure to the reception of so illustrious a 
prelate, and great hopes for Catholicity were entertained. 
But all were dashed, as months passed and no tidings 
came. At last it was learned that Napoleon had pre- 
vented his embarkation from Italy; and ere long New 
York, which had put on its robes of gladness to welcome 
its first bishop, had to put on those of mourning, for 
the sad news came that their bishop had died mysteri- 
ously at Naples, in 1810, as he was at last on the 
point of embarking for his see. This was a sad blow 
to the new diocese ; and, as the sovereign Pontiff was 
hurried off from Rome a captive, it was impossible for 
some years to fill the vacancy and give the widowed 
Church of New York a bishop. 

New York was thus left in a wretched condition — 
a diocese without a bishop, with none to guide and 
direct, as only a bishop can. Zealous Jesuits came, 
and, aided by a few priests who joined them, projected 
works on which the progress of religion depended. The 



38 INTRODUCTION. 

corner-stone of a new church was laid. The Dominicans 
wliom the late bishop intended to bring were indeed 
sent elsewhere, with the means he had collected ; but 
Trappists sought to found a house here. The Jesuits 
opened a college ; and Ursuline nuns from the Island of 
Saints crossed the Atlantic to begin one of their suc- 
cessful academies for training young ladies to all the 
accomjDlishments, virtue, purity, and self-sway of a truly 
Christian maiden. 

But all such institutions needed the fostering care of 
a bishop. Those in New York lacked it. They faded 
away, leaving the Catholics disheartened and discouraged. 



EARLY HISTORY. 39 



RT. REV. JOHN CONNOLLY, 

OF THE ORDER OF ST. DOMINIC, 
SECOND BISHOP OF NEW YORK. 



NAPOLEON, dazzled and elated by tlie career of 
victory whicli Heaven granted to his arms, 
thought that all tilings, human and divine, must bend to 
his will. The courageous Pontiff, Pius VII., was torn 
from his see. Napoleon fell, as if struck by the lightnings 
of Heaven. The crime and the punishment were evident 
to the whole world. 

By one of those strange dispositions of Providence, 
which no human mind can foresee, the power of Protest- 
ant England was employed to restore Pope Pius VII. to 
Rome. Wlien the affairs of the Church could be resumed, 
he resolved to give New York a bishop at once. Again 
he looked to the sons of faithful Ireland. The Rev. 
Father John Connolly, of the Order of St. Dominic and 
prior of St. Clement's Convent in Rome, where he had 
spent much of liis life, was appointed Bishop of New 
York. He was consecrated in Rome, Nov. 6, 1814, but 
did not reach New York till the 24th day of the same 
month, in the following year. He is the first of our 



40 INTRODUCTION. 

hierarchy who came to us consecrated in the Eternal City. 
He was received with great joy by liis flock, happy at 
last to have a bishop in their midst. He found in liis large 
diocese at least seventeen thousand Catholics, scattered far 
and wide, with only four priests to aid him in ministering 
to them; and two of these were soon withdrawn from 
him. All the institutions projected by the zealous mis- 
sionaries and begun by the devoted Catholics of New 
York had vanished. Everything was to be created anew 
by him, and the burden was immense. He did not 
shrink from the toil which would have appalled many a 
younger man, but bravely undertook the discharge of the 
duties imposed on him by the sovereign Pontiff. 

He was a native of Drogheda, having been born 
in the year 1750. He had studied in Ireland, then in 
Belgium, and finally entering the Order of St. Dominic, 
to which he felt that God called him, he was sent to 
St. Clement's Convent in Rome. His life had been one 
of constant, active service, and he was for years the 
agent of the Irish bishops in Rome. 

He visited his native land on his way, less to see 
his kindred than to appeal to the zeal of priest and Levite 
to join him in the field of his labors. Faithful Ireland 
could not see her children in America exposed to lose the 
faith. Bishop Connolly obtained for his diocese several 
priests full of zeal for man and love for God, and some 
candidates for holy orders, on whom he soon conferred 



EARLY HISTOEY. 41 

tlie priesthood; New York then first witnessing the confer- 
ring of that great sacrament by which the apostolic 
powers are continued in the Church. He made visitations 
of his diocese, erecting shrines of rehgion in Utica and 
Rochester, thus taking possession of Central and West- 
ern New York, where in earlj times the Jesuit Fathers 
had their flourishing missions among the fierce Iroquois. 

The Orphan Asylum in New York City, which has 
so long been a home to the fatherless, was established by 
him, and placed under the direction of Sisters of Charity 
from the community founded by Mother Seton, to whom, 
doubtless, as herself a native of his diocese, he appealed 
for aid in terms which she could not refuse. 

He went to Baltimore in 1817, to attend the conse- 
cration of the Rev. Ambrose Marechal as Bishop of Stau- 
ropolis and coadjutor to Archbishop Neale. The ceremony 
was performed by Bishop Cheverus, Bishop Connolly and 
the Very Rev. Mr. DeBarth as assistants. His return to 
his diocese, so ill provided with priests, must have made 
his burden seem all the more onerous after witnessing 
the Seminary and other institutions at Baltimore. The 
yellow fever, which soon afflicted New York, found him, 
however, zealous and unremitting in the parochial labors 
he was compelled to discharge; and in those days of 
trial he showed all the heroism of the priest, and, were 
that possible, more . than his usual charity and benevo- 
lence. 



42 IXTRODUOTION. 

His next great effort was to secure more Sisters, in 
order to place the charity schools under their care. 

But if his labors were great and his resources were 
small, he was gladdened by the reception of converts 
into the Church, several of them clergymen of Prot- 
estant denominations. Bishop Hobart, of the EpiscojDal 
Church, enjoyed the friendship of Dr. Connolly, and evi- 
dently was approacliing the light of truth. When Dr. Hobart 
went to Europe, he visited one of his former ministers, who 
had become a priest and entered a religious community 
in Europe, and he bore letters from Bishop Connolly to 
friends in Rome. He never became a Catholic, but his 
daughter died in the faith, the wife of one who left a 
bishopric in the Episcopal Church to enter the fold of 
Christ. 

In 1824, Bishop Connolly, feeling the weight of years 
and his severe mission labors, solicited the Holy See to 
give him a coadjutor, and to appoint his faithful colaborer, 
the Rev. Michael O'Gorman; but before the question 
could be acted upon, the zealous first-ordained priest of 
New York fell sick and died at the bishop's house ; and 
within a week si second priest was buried from the same 
dwelling. At Rev. Mr. O'Gorman's funeral the aged bishop 
contracted a severe cold which prostrated him, and led to 
a fatal malady. Yet he struggled through the winter, 
discharging the duties which had now increased beyond 
the ability of a priest in the prime of life and strength. 



EARLY HISTORY. 43 

He officiated till within a week of his death, and ex- 
pired on the evening of Sexagesima Sunday, February 6th, 
1825, at his residence, 512 Bowery. His body was taken 
to St. Peter's, and lay in state there till the 9th, when 
it was conveyed to his cathedral. 

Almost at the close of his career, in which he had 
many and grievous trials, his people, in a public resolu 
tion, declared that he justly possessed the confidence of 
all, and that his wisdom, piety and zeal had excited the 
admiration of their fellow-citizens ; that liis conduct, man- 
ners and example recalled to their minds what we read 
of primitive simplicity in the history of the apostles of 
the earlier ages. And he won tliis esteem, not by bril- 
liant or showy gifts, but by his soHd virtue, his zeal, 
devotedness, and charity. 



44 INTEODUCTION. 



RT. REV. JOHN DU BOIS, D.D., 

THIRD BISHOP OF NEW YORK. 



THE prelates whom we have thus briefly sketched 
had been selected in Rome, and set out, with 
the blessing- of the Holy Father and consecration in the 
Eternal City, to a diocese and a flock in a strange and 
distant land. The Rev. John Du Bois, who was appointed 
Bishop of New York in 1826, was one already identified 
with the Chm-ch in the United States by years of labor 
as a zealous missionary priest, by the foundation and 
dkection of Mount St. Mary's College at Emmittsburg, 
which has been to this day the Alma Mater of thousands 
of highly cultured Catholic gentlemen, and the seminary 
which has filled the country with well-trained and zealous 
priests. He had, too, under God, been greatly instru- 
mental in guiding to success Mother Seton's labors to 
establish the Sisters of Charity in America. Few men 
were better known to the bishops and clergy of the 
United States, or more highly esteemed. 

Schoolfellow of Robespierre, he was one of the faith- 
ful priests whom France, fallen into the hands of such 
men, drove from her shores. Bishop Du Bois came to 



EARLY HISTORY. 45 

New York full of years and experience; known, respect- 
ed, revered. He was consecrated at Baltimore, Oct. 29, 
182G, liis episcopal cross and ring having been the gift 
of the illustrious Charles Carroll of CarroUton. He found 
immense wants. The Catholic emigration increased rapidly. 
Short-sighted men, under the old trustee system, with 
mistaken views of their rights and duties, were blindly 
crippling the Church, and preventing its usefulness. Fa- 
naticism had been aroused among the Protestant bodies, 
unprincipled men seeking popularity by wild attacks on 
the Church, and the basest and most disgraceful inventions 
and forgeries. But amid all the oppositions. Bishop Du Bois 
went bravely on. Able theologians and controversialists, 
like Varela and Levins, vindicated Catholic truth and ex- 
posed the hoUowness of Protestantism as a system. The 
eloquent voice of a Power called forth resources for the 
orphans. The Bishop labored to endow his diocese with 
a second Mount St. Mary's ; but, though he failed in this, 
religion generally prospered. He visited all parts of his 
diocese, and encouraged the building of churches where- 
ever one could possibly exist, obtaining aid from Rome, 
and from the Society for the Propagation of the Faith. 
So rapid was the progress of the faith during his episco- 
pate, that every year beheld new churches rising. Yet he 
was not fitted by age to cope with the difficulties at- 
tendant on the rapid increase of Catholics, mainly, then, 
by emigration from Ireland. 



46 INTRODUCTION. 

He was a man of sixty, having been born in Paris, 
August 24, 1764, of respectable and wealthy parents. A 
pious and truly Chiistian mother had trained him in 
childhood ; his faith had been confirmed and deepened 
under the tuition of the Jesuit Fathers, at the College of 
liOuis le Grand. Though the world was seething with 
coming revolution, and that very college numbered among 
its scholars men who were to figure as the most impious 
and cruel wretches of the French Revolution, young 
Du Bois devoted hhnself to the service of God. Trained 
in the Seminary of St. Magloire, he was ordained in 
1787. He was at once charged with duties. Besides 
being curate at St. Sulpice, he was chaplain of an ex- 
tensive Asylum for the Insane and for Orphans. Amid 
all the horrors of the Revolution, he stood at his post, 
till fi'iends showed him that it was his duty to fly. 
Narrowly escaping death, he reached a vessel for the 
United States, and landed at Norfolk, in Virginia, in 1791. 
Bishop Carroll received him to his arms, and with letters 
from Lafayette to Monroe, Patrick Henry, the Lees and 
Randolphs, Mr. Du Bois began missions at Norfolk and 
Richmond. He supported himself by teaching while min- 
istering to his flock. After a time, Frederick became 
the scene of his labors, and here he began a church; 
but in 1805 he took possession of Mount St. Mary's, and 
reared a log cabin, which was soon replaced by a brick 
church. Then a school rose beside his chapel of the 



EARLY HISTORY. 47 

woods. The blessing of God was on it, and it grew, 
giving priests to tlie Cliurcli and well-trained citizens to 
the State. Such had been his hfe of devotedness to 
his sacred calling. Making the visitation of his diocese, 
he found Catholics where he was led to expect none ; 
hundreds, where he was told they were numbered by 
tens. Impressed Avith the great necessities of his flock, 
he went to Europe to solicit aid. He endeavored to 
give his people churches, priests, schools. 

He found but two churches in New York City. 
Under the influence of his zeal, the Catholic faithful, with 
their wonted devotion and hberahty, soon reared St. Mary's, 
Clu-ist Church, St. Joseph's, St. Nicholas, St. James, and 
St. Paul's at Harlem. 

^Eminently a man of action. Bishop Du Bois was 
quick, and, to some, seemed to rule with too strict a 
hand; but to the faithful who came to him -sAath their 
cares and solicitudes, and to the young whom he loved 
to instruct, he was all kindness and indulgence ; con- 
soling, winning, impelling all to virtue and sacrifice. 

But his severe labors in early hfe, "with the burden 
of the episcopate, told on his constitution. He solicited 
a coadjutor from the Holy See ; and, soon after the ap- 
pointment of Bishop Hughes, in 1837, Dr. Du Bois was 
struck with paralysis wliile walking in the street. From 
the effects of this he never fully recovered, and by the 
advice and wish of the Sovereign Pontiff, resigned the 



48 INTEODUCTION. 

administration of his diocese to Ms coadjutor. He passed 
his remaining years in preparing- to render an account 
of a well-spent life. Bishop Du Bois died in the episcopal 
residence at New York, December 20, 1842, full of years 
and merits, and was laid beside his predecessor beneath 
the Cathedral. 



ARCHBISHOPS AND BISHOPS OF NEW YORK. 49 



MOST REVEREND JOHN HUGHES, D.D., 

FOUETH BISHOP, AND FIEST ARCHBISHOP OF NEW YORK. 



THE clerg-yman selected as coadjutor to tlie venei-- 
able Bishop Du Bois, was one of his old pupils, 
who had, as a priest of Philadelphia, evinced not only 
theological learning, but remarkable dialectic skill, and a 
deep knowledge of the time and country, and that fitness 
for governing men so frequently conspicuous in the Nor- 
man-Irish race, to which, like Wellington and Palmerston, 
he belonged. 

As coadjutor, bishop, and finally archbishop of New 
York, he restored the true polity of the Church, and by 
his singular tact and skill, overcame difficulties and put 
an end to false systems that had baffled others, and 
seemed to many ineradicable. In exposing the doctrines 
of the Church, he was clear, lucid, and timely. When- 
ever any question of the day affected Catholic interests, 
he was outspoken, frank, decisive, and vigorous. To our 
Protestant countrymen, he was the great representative 
of Catholic thought, and his utterances, copied tlu'ough 
the press of the coimtry, were read by men of all creeds 

and every shade of political opinion, 
4 



50 ARCHBISHOPS AND BISHOPS 

What Catholicity in New York owes to " Bishop 
Hughes" can hardly be estimated. He taught his flock 
that the best road to secure the respect of their non- 
Catholic countrymen was to be sincerely and frankly con- 
sistent, practical Catholics ; and as American citizens, to 
assert their claim to all rights conferred on them by the 
Constitution, while showing that they were worthy to ex- 
ercise them. 

John Hughes, born at Annalogan, in the County 
Tyrone, Ireland, June 24th, 1797, had from boyhood 
longed and prayed to Grod to be allowed to become a 
priest. There seemed no answer to the prayer, for his 
brief terms at a grammar school, where he made rapid 
progress in English studies, were interrupted and broken 
off by the necessity for his helping hand on his father's 
farm. His father's emigration to America, followed by 
his own in 1817, opened a brighter prospect to the young 
man. The enticements of independence in the New 
World did not lure him from his choice of the sanctuary. 
As soon as he became aware of the character of Mount 
St. Mary's, he applied for admission, ready to enter on 
any terms, or undertake any position, so that he was 
allowed to study for the priesthood. There was no posi- 
tion open but that of gardener. With characteristic en- 
ergy, he did not hesitate a moment, and began his 
course of Latin privately amid his plants and flowers. 

There was no mistaking his vocation. Dr. Brut^ en- 



OF NEW YORK. 51 

rolled him among- the regular scholars, though young 
Hughes stoutly held to liis agreement by retaining the 
superintendence of the garden. He rapidly passed over 
the usual classical and mathematical course, to find in 
philosophy and theology his real element. As teacher 
and prefect, he showed coolness, ability, and discretion; 
making himself master of the dispositions and capacity of 
those committed to his charge. 

Even before his ordination, he evinced his skill in 
controversy by an able answer, in the CatJioUc Miscel- 
lany to an attack on the Chui-ch. He was ordained at 
Pliiladelphia, in St. Joseph's, the oldest Catholic Church, 
October 15, 1826, and then spent some time with the 
Rev. Dr. Hm-ley, an Augustinian, who had already taken a 
deep interest in the young priest. After a brief pas- 
torate in Bedford, he was called by Bishop Conwell to St. 
Joseph's, Philadelphia, and was for a time at St. Mary's, 
during the sad days which befell that Church, His elo- 
quence won him a host of admirers, and his judgment 
and piaidence secured him the support of all. One of 
his projects was a Catholic Tract Society, for which he 
wrote the extremely popular work, "Andrew Dunn." 
He founded St. John's Asylum for Orphans, and was ever 
ready to meet attacks on religion with his clear and 
logical answers. 

He attended, in 1829, the first Provincial Council 
held in this country, being theologian to the Administra- 



52 ARCHBISHOPS AND BISHOPS 

tor of Pliiladelpliia, while Bisli023 Conwell, at Rome, ui'ged 
liis name as one fitted to become liis coadjutor. He 
erected St. John's Chm*ch, in Philadelphia, which was 
dedicated in 1832, and soon after engaged in a written and 
afterAvards in an oral controversy with the E.ev. Jolm Breck- 
enridge, then considered the ablest advocate of the Cal- 
\dnist denomination in the United States. The consummate 
ability of Rev. Mr. Hughes, in presenting the Catholic 
argument, Avith telling force, was felt by all, and by no 
one more deeply than the Rev. Mr. Breckenridge, who, 
of course, claimed the victory, but who found that he 
had lost all his prestige. 

On the recommendation of the Baltimore Council of 
1837, the Rev. Mr. Hughes was selected as the coadjutor 
to the venerable Bishop Du Bois of New York. On the 
26th of November he was consecrated, in St. Patrick's 
Cathedral, New York, Bishop of Basileopolis, in partibus 
infidelium, by Bishop Du Bois, assisted by Bishop Fen- 
wick of Boston and Bishop Kenrick of Pliiladelpliia. The 
care of the diocese soon devolved upon liim, by the ill- 
ness of the venerable Bishop, and he at once appeared 
before the Catholic body as their leader. 

The best element in the Church at once rallied around 
him ; the rest were soon conscious that any struggle 
would be too unequal. He found the churches in the 
diocese iU administered in their temporalities and loaded 
with debt. By various means he labored to rescue them 



OF NEW YORK. 53 

from danger, and by a sounder system place them in a 
liealtliy and prosperous condition. 

Education was ever dear to him. A college begun 
by Bishop Du Bois, at Nyack, was destroyed by fire soon 
after its opening, and difficulties had prevented any new 
attempt ; but, in 1839, Bishop Hughes secured a fine 
property at Fordham, and established St. John's College, 
which has continued to this day to be the leading Catho- 
lic University of the State. 

During a voyage to Europe, in which he secured 
aid for his diocese in many forms, he obtained also 
several Ladies of the Sacred Heart, in order to found 
an academy of the highest grade for young ladies ; and 
their institution, originally at Astoria, but for many years 
back at Manhattanville, has long enjoyed the highest 
reputation among Protestants as well as Catholics. 

During his absence, an attempt was made by the 
Very E,ev. Dr. Power, and other clergymen, to recover 
for the Catholic parochial schools the proportion of the 
education money which had for many years been allowed 
to them. The school question was before the public 
when he returned. Before a committee of the Common 
Council, he, by a most brilliant argument, maintained 
the justice of the Catholic claim, against great lawyers 
retained by the Public School Society, and distinguished 
clergymen of the Methodist, Presbyterian, and Dutch Re- 
formed bodies. The Common Council rejected the petition 



54 ARCHBISHOPS AND BISHOPS 

of the Catholics, really without consideration of the merits 
of the question. 

An appeal to the Legislature led to a less prejudiced 
system than had hitherto ruled New York City. The 
great defect of the new system was that it excluded all 
religion from the public schools. But much was gained 
in regard to the school-books and the teaching. What- 
ever may be the errors of individuals, a Catholic child 
cannot legally be compelled to learn, as a school-lesson, 
an insult to his religion, or anything contrary to its 
teachings. But this point was not gained without an 
event unparalleled in our history. The candidates of the 
tAvo political parties then dividing the country pledged 
themselves, if elected, to oppose the Catholic claim. The 
Catholics, who met at Carroll Hall to agitate the ques- 
tion, had no alternative except to put forward candidates 
of their own. The Bishop's action drew upon him the 
coarsest vituperation and abuse. But the Catholic ticket 
polled so large a vote as to show part}^ leaders that 
Catholic citizens were not blind tools in theu' hands, but 
men who knew their rights. 

In 1841 Bishop Hughes convened the first Diocesan 
Synod of New York, and established many wise rules 
which bore abundant fruit for the good of souls. 

Emigration and the natural growth of the Catholic 
body had constantly swelled the number of the faithful; 
churches were springing up in all parts of the diocese. 



OF NEW YORK. 55 

and there was an urgent demand for priests. Finding 
the burden too great, Bishop Hughes obtained a coad- 
jutor in the person of the Rt. Rev. John McCloskey. 
That the native American agitation and outbreak of 1844 
did not injure New York, was due mainly to the de- 
termined character of the Bishop and the manhness of 
his flock. 

When the pubHc mind had regained its usual sanity, 
he pursued his plan of increasing the efficiency of the 
Catholic schools. He obtained several Fathers of the 
Society of Jesus, in 1846, and endeavored to secui-e a 
Community of Brothers devoted to teaching. 

Finding that, even with a coadjutor, it was impos- 
sible to meet the wants of his diocese, he solicited from 
the Sixth Provincial Council of Baltimore, which he at- 
tended, a division of his diocese. The Holy See, at the 
request of the assembled Fathers, accordingly established 
the Sees of Albany and Buffalo. 

War was then raging vsdth Mexico, and Government 
offered to Bishop Hughes a diplomatic appointment, in 
the hope of restoring peace ; but as the position would 
have been an anomalous one, and not likely to be pro- 
ductive of good, it was declined. 

He reorganized the Sisters of Charity in his diocese, 
who then separated from the Emmittsburg Community; 
and they have since prospered in a way to justify the 
wisdom of the regulations he inspired. 



56 ARCHBISHOPS AND BISHOPS 

The Provincial Council held at Baltimore in 1849 
recommended the elevation of New York to a Metropol- 
itan See, and on the 3d of October, 1850, Pope Pius 
IX., by a. brief, advanced Dr. Hughes to the dignity of 
an archbishop. The step was followed by the estabhsh- 
ment of the dioceses of Brooklyn and Newark, leav- 
ing to the Archbishop the City of New York and the 
counties on the Hudson. Under liis care, now confined 
to these, religion made rapid progress. New York be- 
held a Provincial Council of the Church assemble in its 
venerable cathedral; an Archbishop surrounded by seven 
suffragans. The proceedings were, in their magnificence, 
a striking proof of what had been accomplished dm'ing 
his episcopate. 

Archbishop Hughes was one of the Fathers who 
stood around the immortal Pope Pius IX. Avhen he de- 
:^ed the dogma of the Immaculate Conception, December 
8, 1854. He was deeply impressed by that grand gath- 
ering of the Catholic episcopate, and on his return, by 
his eloquent portrayal of the dogma and its definition, 
as well as the universal testimony to the belief of the 
world, aroused anew the piety of the Catholics of New 
York. 

The old Protestant alarm was excited. The Catholic 
Church was Increasing too fast. Erastus Brooks opened 
the attack, and though the Archbishop exposed the fallacy 
of his statements and argmnents, the Legislature passed 



OF NEW YORK. 57 

an act — unconstitutional, of course — bj virtue of which, 
in more than one case, property bought by the Arch- 
bishop at a judicial sale, and paid for by him, would 
be given back without any consideration to the very 
parties whose interest had been sold by order of a court 
of law. The absmxl act was soon repealed, as may well 
be imagined. 

Archbishop Hughes sought to resign his high office 
and spend the rest of his days in retirement ; but the 
Pope warmly dissuaded him from such a step, and he 
bore the burden to the end. He had long felt that 
New York should possess a cathedral worthy of the faith, 
and of the great city. Providentially, the trustees of St. 
Patrick's Cathedral possessed a block of ground sold by 
the Corporation of New York nearly a century ago, and 
more than fifty years since, occupied for a time by a 
Catholic college. The street on which it fronted — Fifth 
Avenue — had become the most desirable one in New York. 
On this he resolved to commence a cathedral so grand 
that the plans called for three-quarters of a million of dol- 
lars. He laid the corner-stone in 1858, with great pomp, 
and adopted the plans drawn up by Mr. Renwick for 
the edifice. He aroused the zeal of the wealthier Cath- 
olics to carry on so noble a work, and contributions 
came freely in, till the outbreak of the civil war para- 
lyzed the country. 

The new Cathedral, however, did not draw from 



58 ARCHBISHOPS AND BISHOPS 

other and necessary claims. Religion and charity were 
never more earnestly attended to, and in the trials which 
began to gather around the Holy Father, the voice and 
exertions of Archbishop Hughes were prompt and decisive. 
Sympathy and material aid were alike afforded. 

The civil war induced the Government at Wasliington 
for a second time to urge on Archbishop Hughes a quasi 
diplomatic mission. The existence of the country, to whose 
well-being he had given his manhood and his talents, 
was imperiled. He \'isited Europe, and did much to 
cultivate a friendly feeling towards the United States. 

During his stay in Europe, he took part in the as- 
semblage of the bishops at Rome, on the occasion of the 
canonization of the Japanese martyrs. His health was, 
however, much impaired. It declined after his return ; 
and he was unable to perform any public functions, or 
even say mass. The disease gradually prostrated him, 
and he expired on the 3d of January, 1864. 

He was eminently a great man. None, not even 
Bishop England, ever exercised such influence over his 
own countrjrmen, and Catholics generally tlu'oughout the 
United States ; and that influence was never exerted for 
his own aggrandizement, but unselfishly for their best 
interests. ■ 



OF NEW YORK. 59 



HIS EMINENCE JOHN CARDINAL McCLOSKEY, 

FIKST BISHOP OF ALBANY, SECOND AECHBISHOP OF NEW YORK, 
CARDINAL PRIEST OF THE HOLY ROMAN CHURCH, 
UNDER THE TITLE OF SANCTA MARIA . 
SUPRA MINERVAM. 



THE Church of New York, orphaned by the death 
of the illustrious Archbishop Hughes, was now 
for the first time committed, in the providence of God, 
to one born within the diocese — born when that diocese, 
embracing more than the whole State, had but two 
churches. His life may almost span the rise and progress 
of the Catholic community in the Empire State. 

Born in Brooklyn, March 10, 1810, the young son 
of two emigrants from Derry was carried over to St. 
Peter's Church, to receive the waters of baptism ; for 
Brooklyn had then no church and no priest to baptize 
the future cardinal. As a boy, he crossed the river in 
a row-boat on Sunday, to hear mass in St. Peter's. At 
the age of twelve he was sent to Mount St. Mary's, that 
hive of priests, and, after a seven years' studious course, 
was graduated. 

He returned to his widowed mother, and debated 



60 ARCHBISHOPS AND BISHOPS 

with his own heart the great question of a choice of 
state. The well-trained young American youth had tal- 
ents and energy to command success. The world lay 
tempting before him ; but he resolved to devote his life 
to the service of God, and returned to Mount St. Mary's, 
where the President welcomed, as a seminarian, the grad- 
uate whom he knew so well. 

He was ordained priest in St. Patrick's Cathedral, New 
York, January 12, 1834, but proceeded to Rome, where 
for two years he attended the lectures at the Roman 
College. With the ecclesiastical lore thus acquired, and 
an insight into the management of the great affairs of 
the Church in its capital, winning friends among those 
then in oiSce and among students soon to exercise high 
functions, the young American priest was a type that 
refuted the wild ideas of this country prevalent in Eu- 
rope. 

A tour through several countries added to his expe- 
rience, and on his retm'n, in 1838, he was appointed 
pastor of St. Joseph's Chm*ch, New York. Here he be- 
came singularly beloved; and, when, in 1842, he was 
named Rector of the Theological Seminary, his congrega- 
tion felt the deepest anxiety. But they were soon to lose 
liim. He was selected as coadjutor to Archbishop Hughes ; 
and when he was consecrated, in St. Patrick's Cathedral, 
March 10, 1844, the venerable Dr. Power — who had him- 
self more than once administered the diocese, and was no 



OF NEW YORK. Ql 

flatterer — declared, in his sermon, addressing- the newly- 
consecrated bishop, that, had the selection been left to the 
clergy of the diocese, they would have chosen liim. 

For three years Bishoj) McCloskey continued to re- 
side at St. Joseph's, discharging- much of the episcopal 
duty in regard to the general and special visitation of 
parishes in distant parts of the State. When the Dio- 
cese of New York was divided, he was translated to 
the See of Albany, in May, 1847. 

The organization of that diocese, and its harmonious 
and successful progress, prove how well, for seventeen 
years, he directed it in the way of God. He found 
much to be done ; but, under his gentle yet persever- 
ing energy, schools, academies, asylums, and churches, 
sprang up in all parts. The neglected and negligent were 
gathered in ; ■ congregations, by the help of zealous priests, 
gained new fervor, and a Catholic life, subtle in its power, 
pervaded his whole flock. 

On the death of Archbishop Hughes, the voice of the 
bishops of the province coincided with the wish of the 
deceased, and the desire of the clergy, expressed years 
before and still unchanged, although so long a time had 
passed. He returned to New York as its second arch- 
bishop. What he has accomplished is too well known 
to need detailing here at length. Under liis care, the 
Catholic Protectory, for the rescue of unfortunate childi-en 
from vice, has grown to be an immense organization, 



62 ARCHBISHOPS AND BISHOPS 

without an equal in the country; as great a blessing to 
the State as it is an honor to the Church. 

Archbishop McCloskey, as soon as peace dawned 
again on the land, resumed the work on the new Cathe- 
dral, and has lived to see its completion. He earn- 
estly encouraged the erection of new churches in his 
diocese, and especially in this city, in order to divide 
the labor which had outgrown the capacity of the paro- 
chial clergy. His learning and zeal benefited the whole 
Church in this country, by his influence in the second 
Plenary Council, held at Baltimore in 1866, where so 
much was accomplished to form a distinct code of doc- 
trine and discipline for use in the numerous dioceses 
now covering the country. 

These decrees, with those of the Councils held in 
the Province of New York, he solemnly promulgated as 
the law of his diocese, in a Sjmod held at New York 
in September, 1868 ; and special rules were laid down 
regarding the administration of the sacraments, the cele- 
bration of the Holy Sacrifice, and all that could lend 
dignity to the worship of God. Ho earnestly recom- 
mended his clergy to arouse piety by frequent missions 
and the diffusion of good books. 

The Archbishop of New York was soon called to 
more conspicuous labors. In the Council of the Vati- 
can, convened by the Sovereign Pontiff Pope Pius IX., 
on the 8th of December, 1869 — the fii'st General Council 



OF NEW YORK. 63 

of the Church since the close of that held at Trent — 
Archbishop McCloskey was a jjrominent figure, no less 
respected for his great ecclesiastical learning, and the 
matured experience of a long episcopate, than for the 
mild and gentle firmness in upholding the truth that al- 
ways characterized him. 

The seizure of Eome by Victor Emanuel made the reas- 
sembling of the Council for the time impossible, and Arch- 
bishop McCloskey was again amid his flock, guiding them, in 
his peaceful and quiet way, to the haven of eternal life. 

The Catholic Church in the United States had grown 
during the pontificate of Pius IX. to magnificent propor- 
tions. Her archbishops and bishops had, in the Council 
of the Vatican, evinced learning, devotion to the Church, 
a freedom in the expression of their theological opinions, 
which attested alike their sincerity and the perfect free- 
dom of debate. It was no wonder, then, that this new- 
born Church, with its hierarchy less than a century old, 
attracted tho attention of the whole Catholic world. 
To manifest his regard for the Church in the United States, 
which had ever been so grateful to him — and outspoken 
in its attachment, and liberal in his hour of need — the 
immortal Pope Pius IX. resolved to call one of the 
bishops to a place in the Sacred College. 

There was universal joy when it was known that, 
in the Consistory held March 15, 1875, the Holy Father 
had created Archbishop McCloskey a Cardinal Priest of 



64 ARCHBISHOPS AND BISHOPS 

the Holy Roman Church. Announcing this promotion in 
his journal at Rome, the able and eloquent Monsignor 
Nardi wrote : — 

Among the prelates about to be promoted to the purple, 
Pius IX. has given a new examj^le in selecting for that honor 
an American prelate. We need not say here anytliiug in 
praise of Mgr. McCloskey. There is no American Catholic 
wlio does not know him. After performing with wisdom and 
meekness his duties over the Diocese of Albany he was trans- 
ferred to New York, first as coadjutor and then as successor to 
the illustrious Archbishop Hughes, who left behind him a great 
and beautiful memory. In the ten years which Archbishop 
McCloskey has governed this diocese — the most important in 
the United States — he has invigorated and strengthened 
Catholic institutions, has almost completed a magnificent ca- 
thedral, which will be the most beautiful in America, and has 
won for himself the esteem and the love of all. It is just, 
therefore, that such an honor should be bestowed upon him. 

But not only Archbishop McCloskey is it that the Holy 
Father thus seeks to honor In the elevation to the greatest 
dignity of the Cliurch, he intends, certainly, first and foremost, 
to reward him ; but none the less likewise to honor the great, 
generous, and faithful Catholics of America. 

The insignia of his high dignity were at once sent, 
and, for the first time in the history of the Church, the 
emblems of the cardinalate were borne across the Atlantic. 

On the 7th of April, 1875, Count Marefoschi, of the 
Pope's Noble Guard, in his brilliant uniform, presented to 
Aixhbishop McCloskey, at his residence in Madison Avenue, 



OF NEW YORK. 65 

a letter from Cardinal Antonelli, and a case containing 
the zuccetto, or skull-cap, addressing liim an elegant fe- 
licitation in Latin. The Cardinal responded, in the same 
language, and then Monsignor Roncetti, the Papal ab- 
legate, entered with his secretary. Dr. Ubaldi, and, address- 
ing his Eminence in French, congratulated him and the 
Catholics of America, whom the Holy Father wished to 
honor by tliis appointment. He asked Cardinal McCloskey 
to fix a day for the formal presentation of the berretta. 

On the 22nd of April, 1875, this ceremony took place 
in St. Patrick's Cathedral. The church had never before 
witnessed its equal. The sanctuary was draped in scarlet, 
and filled with members of the Catholic hierarchy of the 
United States; their rich mitres and copes contrasting 
with the gay uniform of Count Marefoschi ; priests filled 
the nave, while the pews revealed persons of distinction 
in every path of life — the brilliant, the accomplished, the 
wealthy ; those moving in the higher and more humble 
walks of life — all animated by a feeling of respect for 
the Cardinal, and of gratitude to Pope Pius IX. 

The Cardinal was seated on liis throne, calm and 
gentle, as is his wont. Opposite, almost surrounded by 
flowers, was Archbishop Bayley of Baltimore, who, as 
holding the most ancient see with almost primatial honors, 
was to impose the berretta on the head of the Cardinal. 

After a Pontifical High Mass, celebrated by Bishop 

Loughlin of Brooklyn, Cardinal McCloskey advanced to 
5 



66 AllCHBISHOPS AND BISHOPS 

the gospel side of the altar. Archbishop Bayley arose, 
and took a position in front of the altar. Dr. Ubaldi 
then received from Count Marefosclii a parchment roll, 
from which he read to the Archbishop of Baltimore his 
authority to confer the berretta ; following it by the reading 
of a second roll to Cardinal McCloskey. After these official 
documents, Monsignor Roncetti addressed the Cardinal, and 
then approached Archbishop Bayley, who had been ap- 
pointed Apostolie Delegate. After replying to the ablegate, 
the Archbishop of Baltimore addressed Cardinal McCloskey 
as follows : — 

Your Eminence — Our Holy Father the Pope has con- 
ferred upon me a great honor in appointing me Apostolic 
Delegate to give to your Eminence this mark of the eminent 
dignity to which you have been raised, and I value it the more 
because it affords me an opportunity of expressing publicly 
my sentiment of affection and veneration towards your per- 
son and character. There were rumors in times gone by that 
it was contemplated to bestow this honor upon certain eminent 
prelates, and especially upon your distinguished predecessor, 
to whom the Catholics of these United States owe so great a 
debt of gratitude. It is an honor, I may say it now, which we 
had in some manner a right to expect, on account of the number 
of Catholics and the importance of the Catholic Church in the 
United States. We had a right to expect it also on account of 
the greatness of our country ; the position it occupies among 
the nations of the earth, and the influence it is to exert over the 
future destinies of the human race. It was right and proper 
also that we should have a representative among the intimate 



OF NEW YORK. 67 

councilors of the Holy Father. There is nothing anomalous 
or contrary to the principle of our Republic that we should have 
in our midst a Cardinal of the Holy Church, and we are con- 
fident that your appointment will continue to be regarded, as 
it is now regarded, a new element of strength and harmony to 
all. We congratulate your Eminence on your appointment 
to so high an office. It will increase your cares and responsi- 
bilities, but it will also increase your means of usefulness as 
an honored citizen of the Republic and a faithful bishop of 
the Church of God, and it will give new brightness to the 
crown of glory which God, the righteous Judge, will bestow 
upon you on that day when He will render to every one ac- 
cording to his works. 

He then took the berretta from the salver, and, ad- 
vancing to Cardinal McCloskey, placed it on his head. 
The new Cardinal's return of thanks to Archbishop Bayley, 
and a beautiful address to the people, followed by a Te 
Deum, closed the remarkable ceremony. 

His singular elevation made no change in the life 
or duties of the Cardinal. He soon after visted Rome, 
where other ceremonies of usage followed, and he for- 
mally took possession of the Church of Santa Maria 
sopra Minerva, of which he bears the title. 

On the death of the great Pope, Cardinal McCloskey 
was summoned to the Conclave, and crossed the ocean; 
but the voice of the Sacred College had, guided by the 
Holy Ghost, selected a Sovereign Pontiff in the person 
of Pope Leo XIII. before he reached Rome. He pro- 



68 AECHBISHOPS AND BISHOPS 

ceeded to the Eternal City to pay liomag-e to the new- 
Pope, and from his hands received the Cardinal's Hat — 
the last ceremonial connected with his appointment. 

His return to his diocese was marked by a most 
imposing- reception in the Cathedral, on the 29th of May, 
1878. 

After the chanting of the anthem, Ecce Sacerdos 
Mag-nns, the Vicar General, in the name of the clergy of 
his diocese, read an address of congratulation most appro- 
priate in feeling and language. The Hon. John McKeon, 
in the name of the laity, then addressed his Eminence, 
and his words may well close this sketch, as the sincere 
feeling of his Avhole diocese : — 

YouE Eminence — To me has been assigned the gratifying 
duty of presenting to you, on behalf of the Catholic laity of 
this city and diocese, their congratulations on your safe return 
from the Eternal City. Many more worthy than myself 
might have been selected for this honorable position, but you 
will permit me to say none could perform it with more sincere 
affection toward yourself personally. It is difficult to express 
the deep-seated reverence and love which are entertained for 
you by the large and faithful flock committed to your pastoral 
care, and you can well understand how embarrassed any indi- 
vidual must be, as the organ of such a body, in giving 
expression to their feelings. Born in our midst, yom- course 
in life from childhood has been before us. It has been 
conspicuously marked with piety and zeal. You have 
discharged "with meek and quiet sjDirit," but with an impress- 
ive efficiency, the functions of your sacred office as priest, 



OF NEW YORK. 69 

bishop, archbisliop, and at last cardinal, in such manner as 
to secure the affection and veneration of not only the people 
of your own flock, but also the admiration and esteem of those 
who differ from you in religious faith. Christian charity has 
been uniformly developed in all your acts. We all know that 
under your administration new temples have been erected to 
the ever-living God, and our seminaries of learning have been 
increased in number. Homes for the rescue of the young from 
destruction, refuges for the comfort of the old and hospitals for 
the sick, have also been organized. In a word, numerous 
works of religion, benevolence, and mercy stand forth as monu- 
ments of your devotion to the cause of Catholicity. With 
your kind permission, they are referred to solely for the pur- 
pose of expressing to you the sincere gratitude of the people 
intrusted to your care for this your holy work. 

To Plus IX. of immortal memory the Catholic laity of 
this diocese are indebted for having selected you as one of the 
princes of the Church. When the news of the death of this 
great Pontiff reached us, the sorrow of the Catholics of your 
diocese was deep and sincere. They remembered the high 
distinction conferred upon them by his selection of yom-self as 
one of his Ecclesiastical Senate — that body to whom the 
Supreme Pontiff may have recourse for advice in the exercise 
of his holy office, and upon whose demise rests the responsi- 
bihty of selecting his successor. From the earliest ages this 
sacred council has been composed of those Avho have attained 
a character for those qualities befitting the office. They were, 
in the language of one of the earhest of the Popes, to be dis- 
tinguished men, their morals unimpeachable, their words 
oracles, their expressions a rule of life and of thought to 
others— the salt of the earth. The Council of Trent directed 



70 ARCHBISHOPS AND BISHOPS 

that the cardinals should be selected, as far as possible, from 
all nations. The result is that by this system of selection the 
great and holy office of chief of the great Christian Republic 
is open to the humblest as well as the most exalted of man- 
kind. Nothing could have been more touching than the 
appeal made by the present Pontiff, Leo XIII., in his address 
to the College of Cardinals, on his election, when he told them 
that they hold in the Church the place of the Seventy of 
Israel ; and that he humbly besought their prayers and co- 
operation in his exhausting labors. 

It was too a conclave of this Sacred College you were 
summoned to attend to elect a successor of the late Pontiff. 
While we regret that you were unable to arrive in time at the 
Vatican to give expression to your choice, we still rejoice that 
you had the happiness of being present at the installation of 
the present Pope, and heard his declaration of the deep sense 
he felt of the solemn obligations assumed by him, but yet with 
a spirit filled with und}nng faith in brighter days for the Holy 
Church. 

The unanimity with which the selection was made of the 
distinguished prelate who was chosen, shows that the spirit of 
the Holy Ghost directed the counsels of those on whom 
responsibility rested. 

We all are conscious that the period in which Leo XIII. 
assumes his charge is but a continuation of the perilous scenes 
through which his predecessor passed. It is one fraught with 
deep anxiety ; but the present Supreme Pontiff will be found 
possessed of that wisdom and true religion which must 
advance and protect the unity and efficiency of the Catholic 
Chm-ch tliroughout the world. May we not hope that the day 
is not far distant when they who are disaffected toward religion 



OF NEW YORK. 71 

will learn from the example of our own country, that the peace 
and prosperity of nations are best promoted by governments 
leaving the exercise of religion — the ministrations of its rights 
and every matter appertaining thereto — ^free and untrammeled 
by governmental interference I 

For us, your children, it is a satisfaction to know that at 
the first Consistory held by Leo XIII. you had the privilege 
of receiving at liis hands the cardinal's hat, the emblem of the 
great dignity confen-ed on you by liis predecessor. To you 
belongs the distinction of being the fii'st cardinal selected for 
the American continent. It is also consoling to the laity to 
know that you had the opportunity of informing the Holy 
Father of the prosperity and wonderful increase of the Cath- 
olic faith in the United States, to make known to liim our 
peculiar wants, and to assure him of the undying devotion and 
loyalty of the Catholics of tliis country to him as the spiritual 
Head of the Chm-ch. 

Once more in the name of your people we offer our hearty 
welcome on your return to your home in renewed health, and 
we pray that your life may be spared to continue your labors, 
to enjoy the respect and love of all, and to stand forth as the 
ornament, the honor, and glory of the Church. 



72 PASTORAL LETTER. 



PASTORAL LETTER, 

DEDICATING THE CHURCHES OF THE PROVINCE OF NEW YORK 

TO THE 

SACRED HEART OF JESUS. 



Venerable Brethren of the Clergy and Beloved Brethren of the Laity : 

Wishing to have part with, our brethren of the epis- 
copacy in the propagation of a pious and salutary work, 
and to make you sharers in the many spiritual privi- 
leges and blessings which it brings with it, we have re- 
solved, with the Divine assistance, to dedicate our re- 
spective dioceses, together with all their churches, religious 
houses, charitable and educational institutions, collectively 
and singly, to the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus. And we 
have appointed accordingly, the approaching feast of the 
Immaculate Conception, the great patronal festival of the 
Church in these United States, as the day on which this 
solemn act of consecration shall take place. 

We feel sure that you will welcome this announce- 
ment with sincerest pleasure. For in the gloomy and per- 
ilous times upon which we have fallen, every new ray 
of light, every fresh gleam of hope, every additional 
source of strength and courage, is hailed with joy. This 
better light and hope, this additional strength and cour- 



DEDICATION OF THE CHURCHES. 73 

age, will be given to you in the efficacious and beautiful 
devotion to the Sacred Heart which it is the object of 
this act of consecration to promote. 

There is a moral darkness overspreading the earth. 
The light of Divine Faith, the only true light to guide 
our footsteps, has become obscured. In some places it is 
burning dimly, in others it is wholly or well-nigh ex- 
tinguished. Yet men are seen to "love the darkness 
rather than the light, for their ways are evil." They 
have risen in open revolt against God and against His 
Christ ; against the supremacy of His dominion over the 
minds and consciences of individuals and of nations. The 
most essential truths of His revelation are rejected; the 
holiest mysteries of His religion are scoffed at and denied ; 
the very life of Chi'istianity is threatened. Irreligion, in- 
differentism, unbelief, with their attendant train of evils, 
abound on every side. As a consequence, or rather as 
a means to an end, the Church is persecuted. Her 
Supreme Pastor is held in bondage. Her bishops and 
priests, in certain portions of Eiu'ope, are forbidden the 
exercise of their rightful jurisdiction and authority over 
the members of their own flock ; some are proscribed 
and exiled ; religious communities are despoiled of their 
property, driven from their homes, made subject to in- 
dignities and hardships the most cruel and unjust. Even 
the faithful laity are not spared. Although we, in om- 
free and favored country, are happily protected from 



74 PASTORAL LETTER. 

extreme trials such as these, still, as children of the 
Church, we are members of one body in Christ; and 
when one member suffers all the members suffer with it. 
Our sympathies, therefore, go out strongly and waniily 
to our struggling and afflicted bretln-en in other lands. 
Our prayers are for them as well as with them. All 
together we lift up our voices, saying, *' How long, 
Lord, how long ! " '' Thy arm alone is powerful to save." 
Still we fear not, we do not despond. We "know in 
whom we have trusted." We know His promises ; we 
believe His word. " I am with you all days." '' Upon 
this rock I have built My Church, and the gates of hell 
shall not prevail against it." Even now the voice of 
the same Divine Master, ever present in His Church, is 
speaking to holy souls within her bosom words of sweet 
comfort and encouragement; telling them whither they 
shall go for help and protection ; how best in the long 
protracted struggle they may obtain courage to endure 
and strength to overcome. If you hear not these words, 
you still may learn their import from a practical re- 
sponse that is given to them. Look around you, and 
what do you behold! Almost everywhere you see bishops 
and priests, religious men and women, holy sei*vants of 
God, devout believers, both of high and low degree, 
coming together in pious confraternities, in associations 
of prayer, in pilgrimages; and all, as if moved by one 
common impulse, hastening to have recourse for succor 



DEDICATION OF THE CHUECHES. 75 

and protection to the compassionate Heart of Jesus. There 
they confidently hope to find a sure asylum, a safe 
refuge from every danger. There also is the never fail- 
ing fountain of infinite love and mercy, the overflowing 
source of every grace and blessing. Let us hasten, then, 
to this same Divine Heart, and we too " shall draw 
waters with joy from the fountains of the Saviour." 

This, dear brethren, is the motive which prompts us 
to ordain the solemn act of consecration in which you 
are invited to take part. In order that you may do this 
the more worthily, we exhort you to prepare yourselves 
beforehand by a good confession and by a devout re- 
ception of Holy Communion on the great festival day 
itself, if possible. 

It is fitting also that you should join in this act as 
a public profession of your faith, especially in all the 
great mysteries of redemption, which have their most 
expressive symbol, as well as their living source and 
centre, in the Adorable Heart of the God man, the " Word 
made flesh, and dwelling among us." 

You will offer it, besides, as an act of reparation 
for the daily outrages and insults, the sacrileges and im- 
pieties, the indifference and unbelief, which so grievously 
afffict and wound this Divine Heart, so tender and com- 
passionate, so patient, charitable, forgiving, notwithstanding 
the ingratitude and wickedness of man. 

But, above all, you will seek to consecrate your 



76 PASTORAL LETTER. 

own hearts to tlie Heart of your dear Saviour. You will 
take His for your model. You will study its lessons and 
teach them to your children, " Suffer the little children 
to come to me, and forbid them not." See, then, that 
you bring them to the loving and tender Saviour who 
wishes to press them to His heart, and have them walk 
the nearest to Him. But in what way can you bring 
them to Him and keep them by His side, where they 
will be secure from harm? You can only do so by 
giving or securing to them a sound Catholic education; 
by taking care that their faith and morals shall be 
guarded from the risks and perils to which they must 
be inevitably exposed wherever the first essential element 
of true education — that is to say, religion — is excluded 
or ignored. Eemember that the interests of the soul are 
higher far than the interests of the body. '* Seek first 
the kingdom of God and His justice, and all things else 
will be added unto you." Watch, then, and pray both 
for yourselves and for all those intrusted to you. Pray 
for our still suffering Pontiff, for the necessities of the 
Church, for the conversion of sinners ; pray for your 
enemies as well as for your friends. Commend all to 
the Sacred Heart of Jesus, and to the Immaculate Heart 
of Mary, that so you may find help and protection 
during the days of life, pardon and mercy at the hour 
of death. 

The reverend pastors are requested to read this let- 



DEDICATION OF THE CHURCHES. 77 

ter to their congregations on the two Sundays preceding 
the 8th of December. On that day the High Mass will 
be celebrated with all due solemnity. After mass the 
sermon will be preached, and then the act of consecra- 
tion, a printed formula of which is sent to you, will be 
read aloud, the j)eople meanwhile kneeling and accom- 
panying with their hearts the words of the priest. The 
ceremony will close with the " Te Deum." Where the 
urgency of time or place requires it, the act of conse- 
cration may take place at vespers, with Benediction of 
the most Blessed Sacrament. 

The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the charity 
of God, and the communication of the Holy Ghost, be 
with you all. Amen ! 

Given at the Archiepiscopal residence. New York, 
this 15th day of November, 1873. 

f JOHN, Archbishop of New York. 

■j-JOHN, Bishop of Brooklyn. 

t DAVID W., Bishop of Portland. 

t FRANCIS PATRICK, Bishop of Hartford. 

■j- LOUIS, Bishop of Burlington. 

t STEPHEN VINCENT, Bishop of Buffalo. 

fJOHN J., Bishop of Albany. 

f JOHN J., Bishop of Boston. 

-[■BERNARD J., Bishop of Rochester. 

t PATRICK T., Bishop of Springfield. 

-j- FRANCIS, Bishop of Rhesina, Coadjutor of Albany. 



78 



PASTORAL LETTER. 



■f THOMAS F., Bishop of Providence, 
■f EDGAR H., Bisliop of Ogdensburg. 
f MICHAEL A., Bishop of Newark. 




ST. PATRICK'S CATHEDRAL. 

MOTT STREET. 
DESTEOYEt* BY FIRE, OCTOBER Cth, 1866. 



THE 



Catholic Churches 



OF 



New York City. 



THE CATHEDRAL CHURCH OF ST. PATRICK. 



MOTT STREET. 



THE erection of New York into an Episcopal See, 
and tlie appointment of the learned and eloquent 
Dominican Father Concanen as first bishop, had been 
hailed with joy by the Catholics of New York City. The 
Catholics nmnbered nearly sixteen thousand, but the pre- 
carious ministry of pastors had left them often almost 
as sheep without a shepherd. They were almost desti- 
tute, in 1809, when news came that the Bishop would 
soon arrive. 

Archbishop Carroll, who had hitherto been unable to 
do all he desired for this distant portion of his diocese, 
now sent two zealous Jesuit Fathers, Rev. Anthony Kohl- 
man and Rev. Benedict J. Fenwick. Laboring without 
cessation and with zeal, they soon brought the tepid back 
to the practice of their religious duties, encom-aged the 
pious, attended the sick promptly, cared for the poor, 
and, by constant instructions, brought all the scattered 
and disheartened flock to St. Peter's, with many a Prot- 
estant, anxious to hear what the Catholic doctrine really 
was. 



82 



CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 



Then it was at once apparent tliat St. Peter's was 
utterly inadequate for tlie wants of so large a flock. 
Father Kohlman immediately looked around for a site 
that would suit for a new Catholic church, intended for 
future as well as present wants, and especially for a cathe- 
dral. Canal Street was then the utmost limit of the city. 
Before you reached it you came to fields, and beyond it 
all was country, with scattered houses, country seats of 
gentlemen, and the humbler houses of small farmers. Two 
great roads ran up the island — Broadway and the Bowery 
road — which led up to the Stuyvesant Bouwerie. At a 
point about equally distant from these two main thorough- 
fares, and hence easy of approach, Father Kolilman secured 
a site for a church. Between it and the lower part of 
the city was the Collect, a large pond of fresh water, dis- 
charging its contents by two outlets — into the North River 
by Canal Street, and into the East River near Roosevelt 
Street. Around the site of the new chui'ch were clumps 
of woodland, grassy liills and meadows. Streets were 
projected on paper, that misled the builders ; for the edi- 
fice is not parallel to the streets that were actually 
laid out by the authorities. 

At the suggestion of Archbishop Carroll, this new 
church was to bear the name of the holy apostle of Ire- 
land. So large a part of the Catholic body that had 
gathered at New York were of Irish origin, that the sug- 
gestion was most creditable to the patriarch of the Ameri- 



CATHEDRAL CHURCH OF ST. PATRICK. 83 

can hierarchy, and showed his veneration for that great 
apostle, and his attaclnnent to the priests and people of 
the faithful Island of Saints. 

St. Patrick is in himself eminently the patron of an 
oppressed and persecuted race. He was born of a pious 
family, that gave several members to the sanctuary; he 
was of that nation of Britons which, under the repeated 
attacks of pagan nations — Picts, Saxons, and Angles — had 
been di-iven from the fertile lands where they lived in 
civilized and Cln-istian happiness, and had been forced to 
seek a refuge in the mountains of Wales and Cornwall, 
or on the shores of Gaul. So utter was the breaking up 
of the nation that, though St. Patrick names his native 
place, disputes have arisen as to its location; but it would 
seem to be among the Britons on the Continent, as all 
his kindred were there, liis ties were there : thence he 
was carried off a prisoner, and thither he returned to 
devote liimself to God. 

A predatory fleet of Irish vessels swept the shore of 
Gaul with fire and sword, carrying off captives and plun- 
der, and leaving ashes and blood. Patrick, while a mere 
youth, was thus can-ied away by the pirates while at a 
villa of his father. The Irish httle knew the blessing they 
were bearing to their shores. Despised for his faith and 
his race, as his conquerors' descendants were to be, the 
young man felt that God had visited him for his own 
good. His faith grew stronger ; his prayer was constant ; 



84 CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 

and he soug-ht escape only when he believed it to be the 
will of God. 

In his own land he devoted himself to the service 
of Heaven. In the solitude of Lerins he acquired a fund 
of sacred learning that caused writers of early ages to 
speak of him with respect. But he felt called to con- 
vert the race among whom he had, in God's providence, 
been thrown, and in whom, amid all the faults which 
paganism nourished, he discerned the traits of character 
which, guided by the gospel, would make it a nation of 
saints. 

Full of this thought he accompanied St. Germanus of 
Auxerre to Britain to combat heresy, and saw Palladius 
depart to attempt the mission to which he longed to de- 
vote his life. Wlien that boly bishop' failed, Patrick was 
himself consecrated bishop and sent by Pope Celestine. 

He was the instrument chosen by God by whom 
Ireland became Christian. Paganism yielded without excit- 
ing a single persecution, or reddening the soil with the 
blood of a martyr. In other lands the roll of saints 
begins with martyrs ; in Ireland alone, with confessors. 
Her martyrs are of a far later date. 

He implanted the faith firmly. It struck deep and 
vigorous roots. No heresy ever rose in Ireland. None 
ever gained. When the English Government used all its 
force to implant the Protestant heresy there, they failed; 
they could neither compel nor seduce. They could exter- 



CATHEDKAL CHUECH OF ST. PATRICK. 85 

minate indeed, and fill up wasted provinces with Protest- 
ants from England, Scotland, France, Germany, and even 
New England; but in a few years the Catholic element 
would preponderate and all others dwindle. Catholicity 
alone can thrive on the Island of St. Patrick. 

Many leading Catholics entered warmly into the pro- 
ject of a chui'ch in honor of this great saint on our 
Island of Manhattan. A subscription was opened to pay 
for the ground and commence the necessary work. The 
Hon. Andrew Morris, a wealthy chandler, Cornelius Heeny, 
for years a benefactor of the Church, and Matthew Peed, 
led the subscriptions with generous donations. On the 
8th of June, 1809, the Very Pev. Mr. Kohlman, as Vicar 
General of the diocese, with his assistant, and the board 
of trustees of St. Peter's Church, walked in solemn pro- 
cession to the ground. Father Kohlman addressed the 
assembled Catholics, congratulating them on their faith 
and courage, and reminding them of the sacred debt so 
many owed to the holy apostle whose name the church 
was to bear, and in which they might soon hope to see 
a bishop presiding. The corner-stone was then laid with 
all the ceremonies of the Roman ritual. 

But the work went slowly on. The bishop whose 
presence was to give life to the undertaking died at 
Naples, unable to reach his flock. The wars which had 
so long desolated Europe were felt beyond the Atlantic, 
and the United States betiame involved in hostilities with 



86 CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 

Great Britain. This, of course, checked emigration to our 
shores and produced distress in all parts of the country. 
It was not till the year 1815 that St. Patrick's was ready 
for divine service, nor was it then completed. Tln-ough 
all tliis time no bishop had reached the Catholics of New 
York. One had been appointed, but as his arrival could 
not be certainly expected, the Bishop of Boston, the loved 
and revered Doctor John Cheverus, was requested to dedi- 
cate the new cathedral, the venerable Ai'chbishop of Balti- 
more having been unable to accept the invitation of the 
Catholics of New York. 

On the 4th of May, 1815, the feast of the Ascension 
of our Lord, a procession moved to the edifice, the Mayor 
and Common Council and the trustees of St. Peter's Church 
taking part in the ceremony. With the Bishop of Boston 
were the priests of St. Peter's, Rev. Benedict J. Fenwick 
and two assistants, with Father Maleve and the Eev. Mr. 
Pasquiet. It was the finest chm-ch edifice yet opened 
to Catholic worship in the United States, and was dedi- 
cated with impressive ceremonies, the most imposing yet 
witnessed in New York. 

Ground was secured near the Cathedi-al for a ceme- 
tery, and the new Bishop, Dr. Connolly, on arriving, 
found the church wants of his flock provided for to an 
extent unequaled elsewhere in the United States. 

In a letter to Archbishop Carroll, Dr. Cheverus refers 
to an account which appeared in the New York Gazette. 



CATHEDRAL CHURCH OF ST. PATRICK. 87 

It is wortli citing, to show how the church was regarded 
in that day, when New York had just erected a City 
Hall, and old Trinity Church was one of the most pre- 
tentious buildings of the place. It will increase our respect 
for the Catholics of that day, who had the courage to 
undertake and the liberality and perseverance to complete 
a church so much in advance of those erected by far 
wealthier denominations. 

"The new Catholic Cathedral in this city, which was 
begun in the year 1809, and lately so far completed as 
to be fit for divine service, was last Thursday (Ascen- 
sion Day) solemnly dedicated to God, under the name of 
St. Patrick, by the Rt. Rev. Dr. Cheverus, Bishop of 
Boston. 

" This grand and beautiful church, which may justly 
be considered one of the greatest ornaments of our city, 
and inferior in point of elegance to none in the United 
States, is built in the Gothic style, and executed agree- 
ably to the design of Mr. Joseph Fr. Mangin, the cele- 
brated architect of New York. It is one hundi-ed and 
twenty feet long, eighty feet wide, and between seventy- 
five and eighty feet high. The superior elegance of the 
architecture, as well as the novelty and beauty of the 
interior, had, for some months past, excited a considerable 
degree of public curiosity, and crowds of citizens of all 
denominations daily flocked to it to admire its grandeur 
and magnificence ; but on the day of its consecration the 



88 CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 

concourse was immense. Upwards of four thousand per- 
sons, consisting principally of the first families in New 
York, including the members of the Corporation, the pre- 
sent (John Ferguson) and former Mayors (De AVitt 
Clinton), with many other officers of distinction, were able 
to find admittance within, l)ut a far greater number, for want 
of room, ^vere compelled reluctantly to remain without. 
The ceremony of the dedication, with the solemn service 
of High Mass which followed, was long and impressive. 
The Rt. Rev. Consecrator, after the gospel of the day was 
sung, delivered from the altar, with his usual sprightly elo- 
quence, an appropriate address from the words of the 45th 
alias 46th Psalm, 8th Averse : ' I have loved, Lord, the 
beauty of thy house and the place Avhere thy glory dwel- 
leth,' to his numerous admiring and attentive audience." 

The praise was not exaggerated for New York in 
1815. Thirteen years later, a guide-book, after men- 
tioning that it was tlie largest religious edifice in the 
city, says it is built " of stone, in massive style, the 
walls being several feet in thickness, the roof rising in 
a sharp angle to a height of more than a hundi-ed feet, 
and forming, with the tower, a most conspicuous object 
in approaching the city from the east. The front of the 
building is faced with hewn brown stone ; and several 
niches are left open for statues that are to be placed. 
When completed it will be the most impressive-looking 
edifice in the city." 



CATHEDRAL CHURCH OF ST. PATRICK. 89 

The erection of so noble an edifice liad a most bene- 
ficial effect. Catholics were raised in public esteem. A 
community which could conceive and carry out such pro- 
jects was one entitled to respect. 

The pews were offered for sale on the 15th of May. 
Seventy-seven out of one hundred and ninety-five were 
sold, and produced $37,500 ; one being purchased by the 
writer's famil}-. Several of the pews, esteemed from their 
proximity to the altar and pulpit, brought a thousand 
dollars each. 

When Bishop Connolly finally reached New York, 
in the ship Sally, November 24th, 1815, after a stormy 
passage of sixty days — a severe trial for one nearly sev- 
enty — he could at least feel proud of his Cathedral, the 
finest church in the city, and the finest Catholic church 
in the country. Thence for more than sixty years it was 
the scene of all the great episcopal acts of the diocese 
and the Province of New York. Here priests have been 
ordained to the service of God, bishops consecrated, the 
pallium conferred, synods held for the diocese, provincial 
councils, and finally, the berretta of a cardinal presented 
to the archbishop. 

Before the close of the year 1815, St. Patrick's Ca- 
thedral witnessed the ordination of a priest. Bishop Con- 
nolly having raised to sacerdotal orders the Rev. Michael 
O'Gorman, who had accompanied him from Ireland, and 



90 CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 

who stands as the first of the long hne of priests or- 
dained within the venerated walls of old St. Patrick's. 

The Cathedral was at first under the trustees of St. 
Peter's Church; but in April, 1817, the Legislature passed 
an act incorporating the trustees of St. Patrick's Cathedral, 
the Bishop being the president of the board. 

Soon after Bishop Connolly was installed, a charity 
school, as it was then called, was opened in the base- 
ment towards Mott Street, where it was continued for 
some years, until a brick building was erected especially 
adapted for a parochial school. It was supported by a 
collection made in the congregation and by a share of 
the State School Fund, then divided between the schools 
directed by the different churches and those established 
by the Public School Society, an organization intended to 
care for those who belonged to no church. 

The care of the orphans was another need. A small 
frame building on Prince Street was secured, in which 
tln-ee Sisters of Charity, in June, 1817, began their noble 
work in New York. To support this charity, " The New 
York Roman Catholic Benevolent Society" was formed, by 
a few zealous gentlemen, in April, 1816. The famous 
singer, Madame Malibran, gave a concert in aid of the 
good work ; members flocked in, and the Society was 
duly incorporated by the Legislatm-e in 1817. It is the 
oldest Catholic organization of the kind in the State, and 



CATHEDRAL CHURCH OF ST. PATRICK. 91 

may look back with pride on its more tlian sixty years 
of service for the orphan. 

The modest frame structm-e was soon found to be inad- 
equate. The ground on Prince Street was secured, and the 
central part of the present brick edifice was commenced. 

The Cathedral had cost about ninety thousand dol- 
lars, and in 1824 there remained a debt of fifty -three 
thousand, sadly crippling the Catholic body, whose con- 
tributions went to pay interest instead of meeting the 
wants of religion and charity. Bishop Connolly resolved 
to make an effort to relieve the Cathedral from the 
heavy burden, and called meetings of Catholics to devise 
a general system of collection, and appeal to the more 
wealthy citizens for aid. The matter was taken up in a 
way that showed the love of the people for their bishop; 
and so much of the debt was paid that Bishop Du Bois, 
in 1830, could announce that it was reduced to twenty- 
four thousand dollars. 

The want of a more extensive cemetery was already 
felt. The ground around St. Peter's was very contracted, 
and the plot originally purchased for St. Patrick's was 
not very large. Additional ground was acquired in 1824, 
so as to extend to Prince Street, from Mott to Mulberry. 
This new portion was solemnly blessed by Bishop Con- 
nolly in August, 1824, assisted by the Pev. Mr. O'Gorman 
and the Pev. Mr. Shanahan. The imposing ceremonies 
were recorded at length in the papers of the day. 



92 CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 

At vespers the Rev. Mr. O'Gorman delivered a sermon 
in Irish in the Cathedral, and made a powerful appeal to 
his hearers, which resulted in a collection of four hun- 
dred and fifty dollars towards the payment of the cost 
of the new ground. 

But before long the eloquent priest, NeAv York's first 
ordained, was laid out in his sacerdotal robes before the 
altar where he had received his mission and so often min- 
istered. Within a week, in November, 1824, another of 
his clergy was stricken dovsai, and the venerable Bishop 
Connolly was left almost alone at the Cathedral ; but 
though he had himself, at the Rev. Mr. 0' Gorman's fune- 
ral, contracted a fatal disease, he continued his duties as 
bishop, and his labors as parish priest through the winter 
of 1824. 

But in February, 1825, St. Patrick's Cathedral, hushed 
with awe, received within its walls the lifeless body of 
its venerated bishop, which had lain in state in St. Peter's, 
and, after a solemn requiem, was conveyed to his Cathe- 
dral church, and deposited near the altar, on the 9th of 
February, 1825. 

The Cathedral, however, put on its robes of glad- 
ness when, in November, 1826, Bishop Du Bois, who 
had been consecrated in Baltimore, entered it' " On the 
feast of All Saints I took possession of my see," he 
wrote. '' With what an impression was not my heart pen- 
etrated at the sight of the immense crowd which filled 



CATHEDRAL CHURCH OF ST. PATRICK. 93 

the Cathedral ! I estimate the number of the faithful 
present at more than four thousand. They were only the 
representatives of more than 150,000 others who were 
not present." 

The new Orphan Asylum was opened in the same 
month, and ere long the parish school-house erected; but 
Bishop Du Bois was unable to secure for the boys a 
Community of Brothers, who should do the same good 
among them that the Sisters of Charity now did among 
the girls of St. Patrick's parish. 

In December, 1833, the trustees of St. Patrick's Cathe- 
dral, finding that the cemetery was insufficient for the 
wants of the Catholic population of New York, espe- 
cially after the experience of the cholera season, purchased, 
with the bishop's consent, a block of ground on First 
Avenue and Eleventh Street. 

During the anti-Catholic excitement of 1836, a mob 
which had collected in the lower part of the city re- 
solved to attack the Cathedi'al. There was loud talking 
and deep threats ; but time was wasted, and the faithful 
had timely notice. The authorities were warned, but the 
congregation, depending on their own good hearts and 
stout arms, rather than on the uncertain and often inef- 
fectual efforts of public magistrates, prepared to defend 
the Cathedral. The cemetery had just been inclosed b}- 
a brick wall. In this, at proper height, loopholes for 
musketry were made, and men belonging to the militia 



94 



CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 



companies, accustomed to handle arms, were drawn up 
within. Along Prince Street, where the approach of the 
mob was expected, the cobble-stone pavement was torn 
up and taken in baskets to the windows of the houses, 
which had also a few muskets. In this guise they 
awaited the attack. 

The mob advanced up the Bowery in a compact 
mass, full of the spirit of destruction and religious hate, 
but as they neared Prince Street, a storekeeper went out 
and counseled the leaders to adopt some military pre- 
cautions. By their advice, a small scouting party was 
sent forward to reconnoitre. The appearance of Prince 
Street, the fortress-like look of the brick wall, the mili- 
tary attitude of bodies of men, were a sight for which 
they were not prepared. They came to plunder and 
destroy. They had no idea of fighting men like men. 
Completely crestfallen, they hastened back to the main 
body, as if fleeing for their lives. A panic spread, and 
the mob melted away. 

As the attack might be renewed, the guard was 
kept up during the night at the Cathedral, which became 
the centre of a kind of Grod's camp of defense ; but the 
impression was produced, and no subsequent attempt was 
made on the Cathedral, even in 1844 or 1855. 

By this time a house on Mulberry Street, opposite 
the Cathedral, had been purchased for the residence of 
the bishop, who had previously lived at some distance. 



CATHEDRAL CHURCH OF ST. PATRICK. 95 

No bishop liad been consecrated in tlie Cathedral 
till the appointment of the Rev. John Hughes as co- 
adjutor to Dr. Du Bois. He was consecrated in St. Pat- 
rick's Cathedral, January 7, 1838. Every preparation was 
made to render the ceremony imposing. Ecclesiastical vest- 
ments were obtained from other parts, and the clergy of 
the diocese attended in numbers. As the church could not 
hold all who would undoubtedly desire to witness the 
ceremony, platforms were erected outside at the windows, 
to accommodate the faithful. 

The newly appointed was consecrated Bishop of Basi- 
leopolis in partihus infidelium, by the venerable Bishop 
Du Bois, assisted, as required by the canons, by two 
bishops, the Right Rev. Francis Patrick Kenrick, Bishop 
of Philadelphia, and the Right Rev. Benedict Fenwick, 
of Boston, who had, in the early days of his priesthood, 
labored so devotedly in New York, and especially in the 
erection of the Cathedral itself. 

A few years after, an improvement in the Cathedral, 
projected by Bishop Du Bois, soon after his installation, 
was carried out. The Cathedral was extended in that year, 
1838, to Mott Street, and a convenient sacristy made. 
This allowed room for a much finer sanctuary, which was 
a beautiful Gothic work, and the rest of the church was 
made lighter to correspond with it. The heavy, massive 
columns, which gave a somber air to the nave, were re- 
duced without loss of strength, and incased so as to be 



96 CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF JfEW YORK. 

liiglil)' ornamental. This improvement, wliicli was singu- 
larly effective, was completed in 1842 ; and on the feast 
of the patron saint of the Cathedral, this addition was 
blessed b}' the bishop, with the usual ceremonial. 

On Sunday, the 28th of August, 1842, the Cathedral 
witnessed the convocation of the first synod ever held in 
the diocese. The Holy Sacrifice was offered by Bishop 
Hughes, then administrator of the diocese, and a sermon 
was delivered by the Rev. John McElroy, whose life we 
have seen extended almost to a hundred years. Bishop 
Hughes presided in the s}aiod ; the promoters were the 
Very E.ev. Drs. Power and Varela. Sixty-four other priests 
formed this most imposing gathering of the clerg}^ yet seen. 
Among them were some who fill a place in the liistory 
of the Church — Rev. John McCloskey, who was to become 
a cardinal ; Rev. D. W. Bacon, to be Bishop of Portland ; 
Rev. A. Byrne, Bishop of Little Rock ; Rev. J. J. Conroy, 
Bishop of Albany ; Rev. J. Loughlin, Bishop of Brook- 
lyn ; Rev. Bernard O'Reilly, Bishop of Hartford ; Rev. 
William Quarter, Bishop of Chicago; the Rev. John Har- 
ley, President of St. John's College ; the Rev. Ambrose 
Manahan. 

During the next decade the Cathedi'al witnessed the 
consecration of many bishops. On the 10th of March, 
1844, Bishop Hughes, assisted by Bishops Fen wick of 
Boston and Whelan of Richmond, consecrated the Rt. 
Rev. John McCloskey, Bishop of Axiern and Coadjutor 



CATHEDRAL CHURCH OF ST. PATRICK. 97 

of New York; Rt. Rev. William Quarter, Bishop of Chi- 
cago, and Rt. Rev. Andrew Byrne, Bishop of Little Rock. 
On the 17th of October, 1847, assisted by Bishop Walsh 
of Halifax and Bishop McCloskey of Albany, he con- 
secrated Rt. Rev. John Timon, Bishop of Buffalo. On 
the 30th of October, 1853, Monsignor Gaetano Bedini, 
Archbishop of Thebes, and subsequently Cardinal, conse- 
crated in the same sanctuary the Rt. Rev. James R. 
Bayley, Bishop of Newark, Rt. Rev. John Loughlin, 
Bishop of Brooklyn, and Rt. Rev. Louis de Groesbriand, 
Bishop of Bm'lington. 

The See of New York was meanwhile made a Metro- 
politan. In October, 1850, Bishop Hughes announced liis 
promotion to the congregation of St. Patrick's, and pre- 
pared to go to Rome to be invested with the pallium. 
He also made known a project which had for some time 
occupied his mind, the erection of a new cathedral, on 
the ground in Fifth Avenue which they had long owned. 
Meanwhile notliing was omitted to render the services of 
the church more imposing in the old Cathedi-al. Among 
other improvements, a fine new organ, by Erben, twenty- 
eight feet wide and forty-seven feet high — at the time one 
of the largest in the city — was erected early in 1852. 

St. Patrick's had now become a Metropolitan church, 
and soon witnessed a Provincial Council. On the 1st of 
October, 1854, the Archbishop, with the Bishops of 

Albany, Boston, Brooklyn, Buffalo, Hartford, and Newark, 

7 



98 CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 

moved in procession from the episcopal residence tln*ough 
the streets to the Cathedral. The archiepiscopal cross Avas 
borne aloft at the head of the line, followed by acolytes 
in red cassocks, chanters in surj^lices, priests in the rich 
chasubles of their order, theologians, crosier bearers and 
attendants, the Archbishop and his seven bishops follow- 
ing, arrayed in mitres and copes. They moved up the 
aisle of the Cathedral and filled the chancel. Then the 
Mass of the Holy Ghost was celebrated, and the solemn 
sessions of the council began. 

Other councils and synods have since been held 
within the venerated walls, and other bishops consecrated; 
but we need not clu'onicle them all. 

It would require a volume to sketch or even name 
the eminent Catholics who have been connected with the 
Cathedral, or whose lifeless forms received within its walls 
the last rites of the Church, the requiem for the departed. 

The church, around which so many holy associa- 
tions clustered, was visited by an element more destructive 
than the hand of time. On the 6th of October, 1866, 
a conflagration occui-red on Broadwa}', involving ware- 
houses and goods of great value ; the sjDarks were borne 
in every direction, lighting up the evening sky with their 
fitful glare. Suddenly the cry was raised that the roof 
of the Cathedral Avas on fire. It was at first deemed 
incredible. Yet it proved to be the fact. The ancient 
structure had, from lack of means at its completion, been 



CATHEDRAL CHURCH OF ST. PATRICK. 99 

covered witli wood, and this, di'ied by age, offered an 
easy prey to the flames. When the destructive blaze 
dispelled all doubt, the clergy of the Cathedral removed 
the sacred vessels and altar plate, as well as the records, 
and all that was portable, while the faithful, insensible to 
risk, bore to places of safety every picture or piece of 
furniture that coidd be reached. The fire department, 
already struggling to suppress the conflagration on Broad- 
way, hastened to the scene ; but all the efforts proved 
unavailing. The whole roof was one mass of fire, and the 
wood-work, lighted by the falling embers, poured forth, as 
from a furnace, one vast sheet of flame ; and the morn- 
ing dawned on a scene of desolation that carried a pang 
to the heart of many a New York Catholic. The ven- 
erable fane, around which clustered so many hallowed 
associations connected with the Church and with their 
own kindred and friends, was but a mass of blackened 
walls. Altar and sanctuary were gone ! It was but a sad 
monument of the past. 

But the spot was too sacred to be abandoned, 
although the new Cathedi-al approached completion. The 
Archbishop and the congregation resolved to rebuild it 
at once. 

As restored, St. Patrick's Cathedral, though of course 
far inferior to the new one on Fifth Avenue, is a noble 
structure. It is Grothic, of a pure style. The length is 
divided by eight arches, the pillars separating the nave 



100 CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 

from tlie aisles. The window over the altar is a grand 
one, the stained glass being of admirable design and finish. 
Of the twelve windows, that on each side nearest the 
chancel has a full-length figure, the rest being filled with 
ornaments merely. ' Beautiful copies of two of Raphael's 
finest paintings are on either side of the sanctuary. 

The altar is of white marble, exquisitely wrought and 
surmounted by a crucifix. The Gothic screen behind has 
in its niches fine figures of the Twelve Apostles. The 
side altars of the Blessed Virgin and St. Joseph corre- 
spond harmoniously with the main altar, and, with the 
screen which advances here and runs behind them, pro- 
duce a most beautiful effect. 

In the grand ceremonials of the Chm-ch, when the 
sanctuary is lit up by a thousand candles and jets of 
gas, and crowded with the purple-robed bishops cluster- 
ing around the tall and amiable form of the Cardinal, 
with priests in cassock and surplice, and others in the 
more varied habits of St. Dominic and St. Francis, the 
place seems admirably fitted for the impressive ritual of 
the Church. 

On its completion it was solemnly dedicated by 
Archbishop McCloskey, on St. Patrick's Day, March 17, 
1868, Bishops Loughlin of Brooklyn and Bacon of Port- 
land assisting, with a vast assemblage of secular priests 
and Fathers of the Dominican, Franciscan, Jesuit, Re- 
demptorist, and Mercy orders. 



OATHEDEAL CHUKCH OF ST. PATRICK. IQl 

The cemetery around St. Patrick's holds many of the 
early honored Catholic dead. Some stones bear names 
of families still existing- among- us ; of others the descend- 
ants have vanished. A son of General Moreau died 
during his father's residence in America, and was laid 
here. Here rest Thomas O'Conor, the venerable father of 
Charles O'Conor, Captain James McKeon, U. S. A., a 
hero of the war of 1812, father of Hon. John McKeon, 
Capt. Pierre Landais, second in command to Paul Jones 
in his famous battle, Stephen Jumel, John B. Lasala, and 
many other notable persons in the Catholic body, with 
not a few zealous priests. 

Beneath the church are vaults where lie the remains 
of Bishops Connolly and Du Bois, and Archbishop Plughes, 
as well as a few other vaults belonging to private families. 

The site for the new St. Patrick's Cathedral is thus 
described by Archbishop Hughes : — 

"The block of ground on which the cathedral is to 
be built is two hundred feet on Fifth Avenue on the 
west, two hundi-ed feet on Madison Avenue on the east, 
by four hundred and twenty feet on Fifty-first Street 
north and Fiftieth Street south." It is a spot which has 
been Catholic ground for more than sixty years. Every 
few years the story is started that the ground was given 
to the Catholics by the city. The records of the city 
show the contrary. The ground was purchased by the 
trustees of St. Peter's and St. Patrick's before a Catholic 



102 CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 

bishop of New York ever took possession of liis see. The 
Jesuit Fathers conducted a college for some jears in a 
building still standing. 

It was originally subject to a quit rent of wheat, 
which at the time of the anti-Rent troubles, was released 
by the city on payment of a sum in gross, not as a 
favor, but in pursuance of a wise policy to abolish all 
the old feudal services and burdens that existed. 

As streets were laid out, the Cathedral, which had 
acquired the whole property, exchanged gores with the 
city for mutual benefit; but not one foot of the ground 
was a gift from the city. State, or Union. 

" The building is to be three hundred and twenty- 
two feet long, ninety-seven feet wide, the transept a 
hundred and seventy-two feet, the height from floor to 
ceiling at the summit of the clerestory, one hundred feet. 
There will be fourteen chapels, besides the grand altar." 

Such was the magnificent project of the great Arch- 
bishop, after adopting a plan from the many submitted 
to him. In June, 1858, he issued a circular which he 
addressed to one hundred and fifty of the most pious, zeal- 
ous and wealthy Catholics of the city and diocese, asking 
from each one thousand dollars as a subscription to begin 
the work. He then called upon them all, and more than 
a hundred responded, g-iving over one hundred thousand 
dollars. 

Encouraged by this manifestation of the interest taken, 



CATHEDRAL CHURCH OF ST. PATRICK. 103 

and convinced tliat the calls for five hundred dollars, and 
smaller amounts, which he proposed to make in succession, 
would meet as hearty a response, the Archbishop had the 
ground graded, and, on the 15th of August, 1858, the feast 
of our Lady's Assumption, laid the corner-stone. Seven 
bishops, one hundred and thirty priests, one hundred and 
twenty acolytes, in cassock and surplice, made an impos- 
ing ecclesiastical group. The grand ceremonial, chanted by 
these numerous voices, proceeded amid an audience of 
not less than a hundred thousand, many of them Protes- 
tants, drawn by wonder and curiosity to the scene. 

The work was commenced and continued down to 
the civil war, each successive call meeting the same gen- 
erous response ; but in the troubles then gathering upon 
the country, it was impossible to think of prosecuting the 
vast undertaking. The failing health of the Archbishop 
prevented his reviving it, even when the prospect of peace 
restored confidence to the country. 

On his promotion to the See of New York, Arch- 
bishop McCloskey, urged by many, resolved to carry on 
the great work of his predecessor. It has, in 1878, nearly 
approached completion, and is the largest, and finest temple 
of Grod erected in this country, having cost more than 
two millions of dollars. Its later building expenses have 
been met by a regular annual subscription in each church 
in the diocese, so that it is indeed the church of churches. 

The style is the decorated Gotliic of the fourteenth 



104 CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 

century, and somewhat resembles the great Cathedral of 
Cologne. The front is extremely beautiful, with three 
richly decorated doors, surmounted by a beautiful rose 
window and two Gothic windows ; the two spires rising 
to the height of three hundred and ' twenty-eight feet. 
The main entrance is thirty-five feet wide and fifty-one 
feet high, and is a series of columns, with bases and foli- 
age caps, from which spring richly ornamented arches. The 
gable above has a row of niches for statuary. 

There are a hundred and three windows, all of stained 
glass, set in double tiers at the sides, the lower tliirty- 
two feet in height, the upper twenty-eight, producing a 
grand efiect. Many of these windows were executed in 
Europe, and are of great merit in design and execution. 

The interior will be composed of the nave and its 
two side aisles, the transept forming the cross and the 
choir. The length within will be three hundred and six 
feet, the general width ninety-six feet, with chapels on each 
side, each twelve feet wide. 

The choir and sanctuary will have a centre separated 
from aisles on either side by clustered columns of white 
marble. The high altar is of white marble, executed in 
Italy, with a magnificent altar screen of colored marble 
colmnns, with marble niches and statues. 

The dedication and opening of this magnificent struc- 
tm-e are scenes that the Catholics of New York City look 
forward to with the deepest mterest. 



VERY EEV. WILLIAM QUINN, 

VICAR GENERAL OF THE DIOCESE OF NEW YORK, PASTOR OF ST. 
PATRICK'S CATHEDRAL. 



THE rectorship of St. Patrick's Cathedral has al- 
ways been a position of importance in the 
Catholic Church on New York Island, and has been 
filled by men of eminence among the clergy. Not only 
as the leading church, but also as that which for years 
had the most extensive parochial district, extending at 
first far beyond the limits of the island, St. Patrick's 
had, in those to whom the bishops, and at a later date 
the archbishops, confided the spiritual care of the flock 
worshiping within its venerable walls, priests who will 
not soon be forgotten. 

For some years back the rector has also held the 
onerous dignity of Vicar G-eneral, devolving upon him as 
the chief administrative officer of the Archbishop a host 
of difficult and responsible duties in regard to the 
churches, clergy, institutions, and laity of the diocese, 
requiring no ordinary gifts and powers, as well as sound 
theological learning and vast experience. During the 
occasional seasons of the absence of the Most Reverend 
Archbishop from the diocese, made more frequent in our 



104^ CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 

time by tlie elevation of our revered Metropolitan to 
the Sacred College of Rome, and in those sad hours 
when God has called from among the head of om- dio- 
cese, the administration of the whole diocese has de- 
volved on the Vicar General. 

Nor does even this include all. The Vicar General 
is, under the Ai-chbishop, Superior of many of the com- 
munities of religious women, and director of nearly all 
others. 

The selection by the Most Reverend Ai-chbishop of 
a priest for the two-fold position of Vicar General and 
rector of the Cathedral is, therefore, in itself, an assui'- 
ance of his conviction that the priest thus honored pos- 
sesses in an eminent degree the qualities of a good 
pastor — discernment, prudence, learning, experience, and 
administrative skill. 

Tlie present rector of St. Patrick's Cathedral, the 
Very Rev. William Quinn, Vicar General of the diocese, 
was born in the parish of Donoughmore, in the County 
of Donegal, Ireland, in the year 1821. He was edu- 
cated in the primary studies in the schools of the Dio- 
cese of Deny, to which he belonged by birth; and as 
he approached the years of manhood, came to the 
United States in 1841. 

It was not to seek a fortune, or acquire fame in 
any professional career, but a wish to serve God in his 
sanctuary, and labor in a field where priests were few 



CATHEDRAL CHURCH OF ST. PATRICK. 104^ 

and the harvest was great, that led him to cross the 
ocean. 

Bishop Hughes was just completing his preparations 
for establishing at Rose Hill, Fordham, a seminary to 
supply his diocese with priests, and a college to afford 
young Catholics of New York an institution where they 
could pursue a university course without ha^dng every 
science and branch of learning imbued with the poison 
of error. 

Almost as soon as the seminary was ready to re- 
ceive aspirants for the priesthood, and a month before 
St. John's College was opened for students, William 
Quinn entered his name as a seminarian at St. Joseph's, 
May 1, 1841. The original system was that of Mount 
St. Mary's, the faculty of the seminary directing the 
college, and seminarians aiding in the college as tutors and 
prefects. The Very Rev. Mr. Quinn was thus an inter- 
ested spectator in the opening of St. John's College, and, 
with the exception of his Eminence Cardinal McCloskey, 
is the only member of the clergy now sui'viving who 
was present, in any capacity, on that interesting occasion, 
so fruitful in good results to the Diocese of New York. 

After his course of study and labor in the college, 
he was raised to the priesthood by his Eminence, then 
the Right Reverend Coadjutor of Archbishop Hughes. He 
was ordained alone, in St. Patrick's Cathedi-al, on the 17th 
day of December, 1845. 



104* CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 

He had already made an essay in one of the most 
difficult and unpleasant duties that devolve on a priest in 
this countrj^. When the Right Reverend Bishop Hughes 
had made some progress in the erection of the new 
building for St. Joseph's Seminary and the Church of 
Our Lady of Mercy that adjoins it, the contributions for 
the expense decreased rapidly. An appeal was made by 
the Right Reverend Bishop, and the young seminarian 
readily undertook a toui* and collected a large amount in 
New York, Brooklyn, and other parts. 

Immediately after his ordination he was assigned to 
St. Joseph's Church as assistant priest to the experienced 
Rev. Michael McCarron. He remained nearly four years, 
zealously doing his share in the work of the ministry 
in the then A^ery large parochial district of St. Josej)h's, 
under a priest who never was remiss in discharging his 
duties or could allow others to become so. 

On the 20th of September, 1849, the Very Rever- 
end Bishop appointed Rev. Mr. Quinn pastor of Rondout, 
but he remained in that parish only a brief term. At 
that moment one of the greatest difficulties of the Bishop 
was the unfortunate position of affairs at St. Peter's 
Church. The trustee system, with inexperience and in- 
competence, had brought that church to a state of bank- 
ruptcy that caused widespread distress, and filled the 
whole Catholic body with pain and shame. 

In this emergency, Bishop Hughes, on the 1st of No- 



CATHEDRAL OHUECH OF ST. PATRICK. 104^ 

vember, 1849, placed as pastor in St. Peter's the Kev. 
William Quinn, '' then a young man," he said at a later 
day; ''but his wisdom and prudence in administration 
had already been tested in another difficult position." 

The burden which the new pastor had to face was 
one of no ordinary mag-nitude. Beside the mortgage debt 
there was more than a hundred thousand dollars due, 
mainly in small sums to poor people, who, regarding 
the church as a kind of savings bank, had made it 
the deposit of the little hoard they had acquired by 
years of economy. When the church difficulties began, 
payment stopped, and for five years nothing had been 
paid them of principal or interest. To relieve the church 
from disgrace and repay these deposits was the first care 
of the E.ev. Mr. Quinn. Harmonizing all minds in the 
congregation, burying in oblivion all past questions and 
divisions, he inspired all with the one idea of relieving 
St. Peter's from its heavy burden. By constant labor, by 
steady exertions and ingenious plans, he raised sum after 
sum till he had the consolation of reducing the indebt- 
edness to seven thousand dollars. 

During this long struggle the ordinary expenses of 
the church had to be regularly met, and there were ex- 
traordinary charges of a serious nature. The building of 
large storehouses in the rear of the church threatened 
the gable end of St. Peter's. To save it required the 
erection of a solid stone wall twenty feet high, with iron 



104" CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 

pillars. The necessaiy work, with, iron railings required 
around the church, cost twenty thousand dollars. 

In the summer of 1860 he was compelled to seek 
some relaxation from the incessant strain on his whole 
faculties, and recruit his health, enfeebled by a sunstroke. 
On the advice that a short sea voyage would benefit 
him, he resolved to visit a reverend friend in Newfound- 
land, but the " Connaught," on which he sailed, was pre- 
vented by dense fogs from approaching the shore, and 
after waiting in vain for thirty-six hours, continued her 
voyage across the Atlantic. He was thus unexpectedly 
enabled to visit his aged mother and his kindred in Done- 
gal, to whom his sudden appearance was a most grati- 
fying surprise. 

The Rev. Mr. Quinn took part in the First Pro^an- 
cial Council of New York, held by the Most Reverend 
Archbishop Hughes in October, 1854. Pie was also 
present at the Second Plenary Council of Baltimore, held 
by the Most Reverend Archbishop Spalding, as Delegate 
Apostolic, in October, 1866. He attended as theologian 
of the Archbishop of San Francisco, and was assigned to 
the Congregation on Churches, the Maintenance and Pres- 
ervation of Ecclesiastical Property, and also on Secret 
Societies ; and was one of the deacons attending his 
Grace at the opening mass of the Holy Ghost, offered 
by the present Cardinal McCloskey. 

At the Second Provincial Council, held in January, 



CATHEDRAL OHUECH OF ST. PATRICK. lOi'' 

1860, lie was also present ; and in the Third New York 
Synod, held in September, 1868, he was one of the 
Procurators of the Clergy. 

On the death of the Very Rev. William Starrs he 
was appointed, on the 1st of May, 1873, to fill his po- 
sition as pastor of the Cathedral, and was also made 
Vicar General of the diocese. The congregation of St. 
Peter's Church had, dming his years of earnest exertion 
for their welfare, learned to appreciate him, and heard 
with the deepest feeling that his connection with them 
was to be so" soon severed. The church which he found 
divided, weighed down with debt and shame, was now 
united, free from all embarrassment, and ready at last to 
turn its attention to those great parochial works which 
were imperatively demanded. 

On the 27th of April, 1873, addressing the flock which 
he had directed for nearly twenty-four years, the Rev. Mr, 
Quinn, after alluding in an affecting manner to those who 
had been prominent in the church work, but had passed 
away, and reviewing his pastoral labor, took his farewell 
of St. Peter's. 

When his Eminence Cardinal McCloskey sailed for 
Rome, August 6, 1875, the Very Rev. Mr. Quinn became 
administrator of the diocese during the absence of the 
Archbishop, and as such exercised a supervision over the 
whole diocese till the retm-n of the Cardinal. 

He was again invested with similar powers when, 



104^ CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 

early in 1878, on the death of the late Pope Pius IX. 
of blessed memory, his Eminence was summoned to attend 
the conclave for the election of his successor. 

Besides the onerous duties that engaged his attention 
as pastor of St. Peter's, and amid the manifold cares at- 
tendant on the positions he now fills, the Very Rev. 
Mr. Quinn has never relaxed in his active interest in one 
of the most excellent associations in the diocese — the 
Society of St. Vincent de Paul. He was one of the first 
to organize in this city an association which had accom- 
plished such a world of good in France, and is a most 
perfect model of an organization for the relief of distress. 

The Very Rev. Mr. Quinn, in his clear, practical 
good sense, saw the great merit of the organization, and 
gave himself to it heart and soul. He was for years 
the medium of correspondence between the President- 
Greneral of the Society in Paris and the conferences in 
this country. When the Society had sufficiently developed 
here he succeeded in having a Council of Direction estab- 
lished, and formed a Superior Council for the confer- 
ences now included in the circumscription of that Coun- 
cil. It is no exaggeration to say that if the Society in its 
various branches throughout the city is the instrument 
of so much good to the less fortunate, and a source of 
so many graces to the members, it is due in no small 
degree to the constant and urgent devotion of the Very 
Rev. William Quinn, to his unremitting attendance at all its 
meetings, and his fidelity to the duties devolving upon him. 



CATHEDRAL CHURCH OF ST. 


PATRICK. 105 


R 


OLL OF Honor. 


Acclas, Mary, Mrs. 


Gilday, Patrick. 


McKeever, Terence. 


Ahearn, Patrick. 


Gleason, John. 


McKeon, John. 


Alty, William. 


Golden, Charles. 


McLean, John. 


Bergan, William. 


Gottsberger, John G. 


McNamara, Patrick. 


Bernard, James M. 


Gough, Patrick. 


Marion, Peter. 


Boyle, Michael. 


Green, John. 


Marshall, David E., Mrs. 


Breslen, Ellen. 


Haggerty, Elizabeth, Mrs. 


Martin, Andrew. 


Brogan, John C. 


Haggerty, John. 


Martin, John. 


Campbell, Patrick. 


Hanlon, Joseph. 


Maxwell, James. 


Carloin, Jane. 


Harrison, Andrew. 


Mills, Mary E. 


Carroll, John. 


Harrison, T. 


Molloy, James. 


Casey, William. 


Hart, AV. T. A. 


Moore, Hugh. 


Cassidy, Mary, Mrs 


Hayes, James. 


Mulligan, Daniel. 


Cogan, Maggie. 


Hayes, Patrick. 


MuUigan, Peter. 


Corr, Patrick. 


Hibbits, Fintan. 


Murphy, James. 


Corrigan, John. 


Higgins, Edward. 


Murphy, James, Mrs. 


Cosgrove, John. 


Houghton, Alex., Mrs. 


Murphy, Thomas J. 


Cunningham, James 


Keegan, Thomas. 


Murphy, William. 


Currie, William A. 


Keenan, John. 


Newman, James. 


Curry, Patrick. 


Kehoe, Andrew. 


O'Brien, J. J. 


Daly, Maurice. 


Kelly, Hugh, Mrs. 


O'Gorman, James. 


Dempsey, Patrick. 


Kelly, John. 


O'Mealia, James. 


Devine, Michael. 


Lennon, P. 


O'Neil, Francis, Mrs. 


Dinnan, Patrick. 


Lilly, Dennis, 


O'Reilly, Francis. 


Doherty, John. 


Lorigan, John. 


O'Rorke, James. 


Doolan, P. 


McArdle, Owen. 


Purcell, John. 


Duffy, Owen. 


McBride, Sarah, Mrs. 


Quigley, M. J. 


Dunn, William. 


McCabe, James. 


Quinn, J. B. 


Dunne, Elizabeth. 


McCann, Bernard J. 


Rafferty, Patrick. 


Dvvyer, James. 


McCarthy, Patrick. 


Reynolds, Martin. 


Eagleton, Patrick. 


McCollum, Patrick. 


Roberts, William R. 


Fahey, Patrick. 


McDonald, Henry. 


Sayrs, Henry J. 


Fanning, Edward. 


McDonough, John. 


Shields, Andrew, Mrs. 


Fitzgerald, James. 


McGill, James, Mrs. 


Smith, Margaret. 


Flanagan, Edward. 


McGinnis, Hugh. 


Sullivan, Mortimer. 


Fogarty, William. 


McGowan John. 


Sullivan, Thomas. 


Fox, John. 


McGrade, Michael. 


Sweney, John. 


Geoghegan, Rich'd, 


Mrs. McGuire, Thomas. 
Barry, Michael, Mrs. 


White, Patrick M. 




CHURCH OF SAINT AGNES. 

EAST FOKTY-THIKD STREET. 



THE CHURCH OF SAINT AGNES. 

EAST FOKTY-THIRD STREET. 



IN 1873, the Archbishop of New York saw, by the 
overcrowded condition of the churches on the east- 
ern side of the city, and their overworked priests, that a 
new parish was needed ; where some zealous pastor might 
rear a temple to Grod, and direct the energies of Cath- 
olic residents, who already evinced that true spirit which 
has peopled our country with churches and pious in- 
stitutions. 

After due consideration, the limits of the new parish 
were laid off, which was to be placed under the patron- 
age of that holy virgin martyr, St. Agnes. It extends 
from Madison to Third Avenue, and from Thirty-fourth 
to Forty-second Street, and from Fourth Avenue to East 
River between Forty-second and Forty-seventh Streets. 
To minister to the Catholics of the district, and assume 
the task and responsibilities of erecting a suitable church, 
he selected the Eev. Harry Cummings Macdowall, who 
had, as assistant at St. Michael's Church, evinced cour- 
age, energy, and devotedness. He did not shrink from 
the burden, although the country was suffering from 
financial distress, and a general feeling of depression 



108 CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 

pervaded the whole community, leaving thousands without 
employment, and disenchanting many of the wealthy, 
who discovered that their fancied riches were as unreal 
as fairy gifts. 

He explored his parish, to ascertain who were his 
flock, and to let them know their new pastor. Then 
he secured a lease of a hall over Croton Market, in 
Forty-second Street, and having fitted it up as a tempo- 
rary chapel, distributed handbills around to announce the 
fact to the Catholic residents. Here, on the 13th of 
July, 1873, the sixth Sunday after Pentecost, the Holy 
Sacrifice was offered for the first time, and the parish of 
St. Agnes was organized ; three masses being said on the 
opening day, and all well attended. 

Within a few days after the settlement of the parish, 
the pastor, who, with his associate, the Rev. A. Catoggio, 
found a home with Mr. Charles Bradhurst, was en- 
gaged in looking for a site on which to erect the church. 
A central position is always desirable for the convenience 
of the pastor and his flock. A suitable location was 
soon found, on the north side of East Forty-third Street, 
and purchased on reasonable terms of the old Catholic 
Doherty family, and a pastoral residence acquired on easy 
terms from Messrs. Cochran and Saulpaugh. 

An architect of ability, Mr. L. J. O'Connor, guided 
by the views of the Rev. Mr. Macdowall, who had 
studied abroad and here the styles of architecture best 



CHURCH OF ST. AGNES. 109 

adapted to church edifices in crowded cities, di-ew up 
plans for a structure of singular beautj. It fully 
answered the ecclesiastical wants of the pastor, and the 
architectural judgment of the planner. The church, as 
thus arranged upon, was at once begun. The ground 
was cleared, the corner-stone laid, and the skillful build- 
ers, Moran and Armstrong and Michael J. Newman, 
pushed on the work so well and so vigorously that, in 
January, 1874, the first story or basement of the church 
was finished. It is remarkable for its strength of mason- 
work, with a front of solid granite, inclosing a space of 
about ten thousand square feet, and being fourteen feet 
high." 

The congregation, who watched with deep attention 
the progress of the edifice to which they had contrib- 
uted so liberally, saw here already a far more appro- 
priate chapel for divine worship than the hall they had 
hitherto used. They heard with joy that this basement 
was to become their chapel. On Sunday, January 11th, 
this lowly shrine was solemnly dedicated by his Grace 
Archbishop McCloskey. The procession, headed by the 
archiepiscopal cross, with acolytes, priests, and the ven- 
erable Archbishop, moved up the aisle, and the ceremony 
was performed by which the place was set apart for the 
worship of God. Then High Mass was offered up, the 
Rev. Arthur J. Donnelly of St. Michael's officiating, with 
the Rev, Messrs. Pratt and Farrelly as deacon and sub- 



110 CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 

deacon. An eloquent sermon was preached by the Rev. 
J. L. Spaulding, on the persecutions of the Church and 
the Hfe of the dear and lovely saint in whose honor 
their chapel was already dedicated, and their magnificent 
church would soon be. 

The holy Fathers vie with each other in honoring 
St. Agnes. Next almost to the Inmiaculate Mother of 
God, the Church holds up, as a special patroness of 
purity, this youthful Roman maiden, who, at the age of 
thirteen, rejected all the suitors whom her wealth and 
beauty brought to her feet, telling them that she had 
consecrated her virginity to a heavenly spouse, whom 
mortal eyes could not behold. In their disappointment 
they denounced her to the Grovernor as a Christian. 
How had Rome fallen, when her sons could thus seek 
power to wreak their vengeance on a weak girl ! But 
she was not weak. Tin-eats, the sight of the instruments 
of torture, failed to daunt her. God preserved her purity 
from insult by a miracle, but the miracle did not touch 
the hearts of her persecutors. She was led out to die, 
and went, says the great St. Ambrose, more cheerfully 
than others go to their wedding. Life was again offered 
her; but, having offered up a short prayer, she bowed 
her neck at once to worship her divine spouse, and to 
receive the sword stroke that was to unite her to Him 
forever. 

From her martyrdom under Diocletian, in 303, her 



CHURCH OF ST. AGNES. m 

fame has spread; and our city may well seek tlie inter- 
cession of a saint so dear to Heaven, 

A Sunday-school was begun in their first temporary 
chapel, and was renewed in Forty-third Street. Though 
small at first, it soon grew, and the instruction of the 
children has been steadily kept up. To kindle the fire 
of solid piety in the flock thus newly brought together, 
the pastor invited the Rev. Father Glackmeyer, of the So- 
ciety of Jesus, and his associates, to give a mission in 
the temporary church. It was attended with most bene- 
ficial results, and at its close the Sacrament of Confirma- 
tion was administered by Bishop Lynch of Charleston, to 
more than six hundred persons. 

Another mission in the year 1875 was equally pro- 
ductive of good, as may be seen by the fact that on 
that occasion Bishop McNierny of Albany confirmed three 
hundi'ed, most of whom were adults. 

Great interest was taken in the new church, an en- 
tertainment at the Academy of Music producing four thou- 
sand dollars. Others, given at the Union League Theatre 
and Lexington Avenue Opera House, also aided materially. 
The grand ladies' fau' of November, 1874, produced nearly 
ten thousand dollars, and encom-aged the zealous ladies to 
undertake a second fair. 

For a time work was suspended, but it was resumed 
in April, 1876, and the church completed witliin a year 
from that period. It is certainly one of the most beautiful, 



112 CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 

as well as most solid ecclesiastical structures in the city. 
The side walls are strongly buttressed on the inside, and 
the aisles are supported by stone and iron pillars of great 
strength. 

The style of the chiu-ch is ornamental Norman Gothic. 
The front is of Ohio stone and excellent Philadelphia brick, 
laid in cement, with stone trimmings beautifully and ela- 
borately carved. 

Short flights of steps, rising easily from the street, 
lead to the three portals. The main entrance has been 
well described as almost a garden in stone, so beautiful 
is the sculptured foliage around the arches, and the 
columns with their foliated capitals. The arch above the 
doorway is a perfect mass of bold carving, the vine and 
its clusters forming the chief portion. The side entrances, 
though less elaborate, are in perfect keeping, and very 
beautiful. 

Above these is a row of low-sized Norman windows, 
surmounted by the great choir window, of remarkable 
beauty in all its details. The gable is crowned by a 
beautiful Celtic cross. On each side are massive towers, 
with buttresses, terminating in small stone arched windoAvs. 
Even with the limited range a city street affords, the ex- 
terior of St. Agnes impresses all who approach it with 
a sense of beauty. 

The interior gives more scope for Catholic feeling. 
It consists of a nave, with double aisles on each side, 



CHURCH OF ST. AGNES. 113 

and double rows of clustered columns, with floriated capi- 
tals. Those nearest the nave are sixty feet high, and from 
the floriated capitals spring- the ribs supporting the vaulted 
main roof The inner rows of pillars, somewhat shorter, 
support arches at right angles to the former. The orna- 
mentation of the ceiling and the walls is elaborate and 
profuse, yet not overloaded. There is a fine taste in all 
the adornment, avoiding all corners or bare blank spaces. 
There are galleries over the outer aisles, approached by 
broad, massive staircases. The floors of the church and 
the gallery descend gently towards the chancel, so that 
the services at the altar can be seen equally well from 
all parts of the building. 

One feature in the church is that the wood-work is 
all carved, or fluted, and finished up without the use of 
paint. 

The sanctuary is lighted by a beautiful chancel window 
in five compartments, with a circular portion above. In 
the centre St. Agnes is seen standing in her cell; on 
the left is her jailer holding her chain, while an execu- 
tioner is preparing the stake at which she is to be 
burned. On the right the Roman prefect is condemning 
her to death. On either side of these, in the last com- 
partments, are the early martyrs, St. Januarius and St. 
Lawrence. Above are seen angels bearing the Palm of 
Martyrdom, the Heavenly Crown, and the Lamb, which is 

the peculiar emblem of the saint. 
8 



114 CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 

Over tlie altar of Our Lady is a window represent- 
ing tlie Annunciation, and over that of St. Joseph, one 
in which we behold our Lord appearing to the Blessed 
Margaret Mary Alacoque. The side windows are adorned 
with monograms, legends, and the instruments of the 
Passion. 

The altar rail, to which a balustrade leads up, is of 
polished brass work, open arches springing from pillars ; 
the side altars are separated from the main altar by 
elaborate screens of Gothic wood-work ; the communion 
rail extending across is beautifully carved walnut. 

The high altar is extremely beautiful, surmounted by 
an elaborately carved Gothic tabernacle ; above is an 
elaborate canopy under which stands a richly-wi'ought 
crucifix, the gift of a lad}- in the congregation. Above 
the canopy is a little niche terminating in a cross. The 
background of the altar is painted to represent crimson 
silk tapestry. The side altars, the table resting on por- 
phyry pillars with rich tabernacles, and statues of Om- 
Lady and St. Joseph, harmonize beautifully with the high 
altar. Above that of the Blessed Virgin is a Pieta, the 
figm'e of our crucified Lord with his Holy Mother and 
the two Marys. It was a gift from the late Barney 
Williams. Over that of St. Joseph is a fine painting of 
the Descent from the Cross. 

The church thus beautiful in all its attributes is so 
divided as to give the greatest possible accommodation. 



CHURCH OF ST. AGNES. II5 

It will seat fifteen hundred in its symmetrical pews, and 
the church can, if necessary, hold three thousand persons. 

Taught by sad accidents which have occurred of late 
years here and elsewhere, the solid and rich doors all 
open outwardly, and besides the tlu-ee in front there are 
several others. Provision has been made also for fire, 
hose being provided at the door and in the vestry, to 
check the progress of the destructive element before it 
becomes beyond conti'ol. 

Such was the beautiful Church of St. Agnes, when 
prepared for its solemn dedication. May 6, 1877. The 
solemn ceremony was performed by his Eminence John, 
Cardinal McCloskey, assisted by the Very Rev. William 
Quin, V.G.; the Rt. Rev. James L. Spalding, Bishop of 
Peoria ; the Rt. Rev. William O'Hara, Bishop of Scranton ; 
Rt. Rev. Michael Corrigan, Bishop of Newark ; Rt. Rev. 
John Louglilin, Bishop of Brooklyn, and about one hun- 
dred secular and regular priests, Dominicans, Franciscans, 
Jesuits, and Paulists. 

The procession issued from the sacristy headed by 
the cross-bearer and acolytes, followed by the Young 
Ladies' Sodality, the long line of priests and bishops 
chanting the Litany of the Saints, and closed by the 
Cardinal in his crimson robes, attended by Rev. P. J. 
McCloskey and Rev. H. Pratt. 

The High Mass was celebrated by the Bishop of 
Scranton, and the sermon preached by the Bishop of 



116 CATHOLIC CHUECHES OF NEW YOEK 

Peoria, whose eloquent and instructive words were listened 
to witli absorbing interest. His text was taken from tlie 
gospel of St. Luke, chapter 19, verse 9. 

''Great monuments," said the eloquent divine, "great 
monuments to God are built by faith, are built by the peo- 
ple, are built by those who desire to show their love for God 
by doing something. If the Catholic Church- did not 
require these sacrifices, it would not be a true religion. 

" I thank God with all my heart that I live in an 
age and in a country in which it is no honor to be a 
Catliolic, in which the very fact that a man is a Catho- 
lic, if he have any high aspirations, is against him. I do 
thank God with all my heart that no man, by being a 
true Catholic, can win honor or consideration. I do thank 
God that men must show their belief by building churches, 
by being faithful, by building all kinds of monuments of 
benevolence, by all good works. But people sometimes 
grumble when asked to assist in rearing temples to God. 
They talk about tlie times being hard; but of course 
they love the Church very much ! 

'' But since I must conclude, I have no reason to re- 
proach you with this, since this very temple in which we 
are gathered would put me to the blush, did I so charge 
you. Certainly, you who have helped Father Macdowall 
to build this Church of St. Agnes have done nobly; 
and I could not, for my. own part, think of a saint more 
worthy to dedicate this temple to than St. Agnes ; for 



CHURCH OF ST. AGNES. 117 

it seems especially desirous that we should bring back 
those great saints of the martyrs' ages, because, though 
men are not now put to death or tortured for their faith, 
yet that old spirit that brought about the persecution of 
the early Christians has been again revived. Men say noT^Y 
as in the time of St. Agnes, that you cannot be loyal 
to Caesar and to God — that you cannot be a good citizen 
and a good Catholic. Do 3'ou know why those Cliristians 
died for centuries? They died for being true to their 
divine allegiance ; they died for the liberty to worship God 
in spite of states ; they died for freedom in worship. This 
is really the history of all those persecutions. The Clu'is- 
tians were persecuted because they refused to acknowledge 
the supremacy of the Empire in religion as in civil mat- 
ters; and, after three hundred years of martyrdom, they 
conquered that civil liberty for all the ages. Now men 
are again talking tliis babble, and certainly the battle is 
being fought in the world of opinions, in the world of 
convictions. We may have to suffer again; and, therefore, 
I say, build temples to those great mart3rrs who suffered 
and died rather than give to Csesar the honor which be- 
longs to God only, and to His Church; who, rather than 
yield their consciences to an emperor, a parliament, or a 
congress, were willing to be outcasts from society, to go 
into banishment, willing to abide by God's good pleasure." 
At the close of the mass, before the benediction, his 
Eminence addressed a few words to the congregation. ''I 



118 CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 

certainly do most sincerely offer both my thanks and con- 
gratulations to the young and devoted pastor of this Church 
of St. Agnes for the good work which he has achieved, not 
only for you, but for all the Catholics of this great and 
populous city of New York. But for you, members of 
St. Agnes' Church, this is truly a most happy, and will 
ever be to you and to your children a most memorable day.. 
You have, in God's providence, been enabled to build up 
here a beautiful temple to His honor and glory. You 
have offered it to Him. You have witnessed with what 
ceremonies the Holy Church, in the presence of her bishops 
and ministers, has blessed and consecrated it, and then 
offered it to Almighty God, begging Him to accept the 
offering of His loving and devoted children. And He 
has accepted your offer." 

The church was thus opened for the worship of God, 
but the Association of Si Agnes, formed to create a fund 
for the building, was continued to aid in extinguishing 
all debts incurred in its completion. 

The clergy, since the organization, have been : 

Eev. H. C. Macdowall, Pastor. 

Rev. Anthony Catoggio, Assistant in 1873. 

Rev. Henry Pratt, Assistant, 1873 to the present time. 

Rev. P. J. McCloskey, Assistant, 1876. Died Decem- 
ber 2, 1877. 

Rev. A. J. Keogh, Assistant, 1877. 

Rev. William J. McClure, Assistant, 1878. 



CHURCH OF ST. AGNES. 119 

REV. HARRY C. MACDOWALL, 

PASTOE OF ST. AGNES' CHURCH. 



THE Rev. Hany Cummings Macdowall, the active 
Pastor of St. Agnes' Church, is a native of 
Washington, District of Cohimbia, and is of a family 
which has already given New York City a priest of 
mark, in the person of his uncle, the learned and brilliant 
Dr. Jeremiah W. Cummings, so many years identified with 
St. Stephen's Church. 

The Rev. Mr. Macdowall was born in 1841, and was 
sent at an early age to that great seminary of tlie Ameri- 
can Church, Mount St. Mary's, Emmittsburg. After his 
course there, having devoted himself to the service of God 
in his church, he completed his divinity studies in the 
College of the Propaganda at Rome. At the conclusion 
of his studies he received minor orders, and the subdia- 
conate and diaconate, and was ordained priest on the 
13th of June, 1867, in the basilica of St. John Lateran, 
by his Eminence Cardinal Constantino Patrizi, Bishop of 
Ostia and Velletri. 

On his return to the United States, he entered on 
the mission in the Diocese of New York, and was ap- 
pointed by the Most Reverend Archbishop, assistant at 
St. Michael's Chm'ch. In that large parish he labored six 



120 CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 

years, winning the approval of his ecclesiastical superiors 
and the attacliment of the faithfal among whom he min- 
istered. 

When the Most Reverend Archbishop saw, in 1873, 
the necessity of establishing a new parish, he committed 
the task to the Rev. Mr. Macdowall, as one who seemed 
every way fitted to undertake and carry out, undiscour- 
aged by disheartening circumstances, the erection of the 
new church. 

The forecast of the superior has not proved falla- 
cious. The erection of a church like that of St. Agnes 
is a striking monument of zeal, courage, and devotedness ; 
and the continuance of the appreciation of his Eminence 
is shown clearly in the encouraging words before he pro- 
nounced his benediction on the day of the solemn dedi- 
cation. 

Popular with all classes, he has secured in a won- 
derful degree the attachment of the flock whom it is his 
province to guide and direct. 



CHURCH OF ST. AGNES. 



121 



Roll of Honor, 



Ahern, Mary, Miss. 
Bolger, John. 
Byrne, John. 
Cahill, Michael. 
Campbell, Bernard. 
Carroll, Peter. 
Conners, John H. 
Conway, Frederick P. 
Cronen, John F. 
Curran, Michael R. 
Donovan, Patrick J. 
Draddy, Robert. 
Duane, John. 
Duffy, Mary F. 
Eagan, John J. 
Eagan, Thomas F. 
Fogarty, William, 



Ford, Thomas. 
Gavin, Mary. 
Haggerty, John. 
Hardiman, Patrick. 
Havey, James T. 
Johnson, James. 
Kelly, Annie M. 
Kennedy, Elizabeth. 
Loughlin, Thomas. 
McCabe, Henry. 
McCahill, B. F. 
McDonald, E. 
McElroy, Francis. 
McGowan, Michael. 
McGrath, Martin N. 
McHugh, Michael. 
McManus, Philip H. 



McQuade, Francis. 
Maguire, John. 
Mann, George. 
Mansfield, Henry. 
Matthews, John. 
Miller, William. 
MuUan, Michael. 
Murphy, Kate. 
Murray, Julia. 
O'Connell, Edward. 
O'Donnell, John J. 
O'Hara, James. 
O'Neill, Bernard. 
Reilly, Lawrence, Mrs. 
Ryan, Terese. 
Yomell, James. 




CHURCH OF SAINT ALPHONSUS LIGUORI. 

SOUTH FIFTH AVENUE. 



CHURCH OF ST. ALPHONSUS LIGUORL 

SOUTH FIFTH AVENUE. 



THE German Catliolics of New York owe an im- 
mense debt of gratitude to tlie Fathers of tlie 
Congregation of tlie Most Holy Redeemer. The labors of 
individual priests had been unable to meet the wants of 
that rapidly increasing portion of the Catholics, and the 
supply of secular priests was precarious ; but when a 
zealous and numerous body of missionaries entered the 
field, they soon found that a church in one part of the 
city did not accomplish all they desired. 

There had been no church on the west side of the 
city where German Catholics could receive instruction in 
their own language. In 1847, the Et. Rev, Bishop Hughes 
authorized the Fathers of the Cono-reo-ation of the Most 
Holy Redeemer to establish a mission near the North 
River. They secured a plot of ground in Thompson 
Street, and there, on the 8th of September, the corner- 
stone of a church, to be under the invocation of the holy 
founder of their congregation, St. Alphonsus Mar)^ Liguori, 
was laid by Bishop Hughes. Rai'ely has a chm'cli sprung 
into existence with such speed as this one. In less 
than three months, the edifice, under the impulse of Rev. 



124 CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YOllK. 

Fatlier Gabriel Rumpler, C.SS.R., was ready for the use of 
the congregation. The Chui'ch of St. Alplionsus was 
eightj-six feet long by fifty feet wide. It was plain and 
unpretending, and cost only five thousand dollars ; but it 
was complete, with a high altar, a chapel of Our Lad}', 
with a convenient sacristy behind, and little chapels on 
either side of the sanctuary, connected with it by lateral 
doorways, and reached from the aisles of the church b}^ 
open arches. There was a spacious gallery at the west 
end, and the whole cluu-ch was plastered and painted. The 
basement was not yet ready for the school, but an out- 
lay of a thousand dollars more would fit up properly the 
five needed class-rooms, as to which there would be no 
delay. 

On the 25th of November, the Rt. Rev. Dr. Hughes 
dedicated this interesting church with the usual ceremonial. 

The church seemed indeed under the patronage of 
the great St. Alphonsus Liguori, who, great as a mis- 
sionary, great as a bishop, great in the Order which he 
founded, and the works he wrote, continues to instruct 
the priests of the church by his theology, and to evan- 
gelize the people of all lands by the priests of his con- 
gregation, as his works continue to nourish piety in the 
hearts of the faithful, winning them to the Love of Jesus, 
by his Visits ; to the Love of Mary, by his Glories ; to 
seek final perseverance, by his Treatise on Prayer ; and 
to avoid sin, by his Commandments and Sacraments. 



CHURCH OF ST. ALPHONSUS LIGUORI. 125 

St. Alphonsus is almost a saint of our own times. 
Born at Naples, of an ancient noble familj, September 
26th, 1696, he entered, after a pious and studious youth, 
the profession of the law ; but was soon convinced of the 
hoUowness of all earthly things, and entered the eccle- 
siastical state. After his ordination, he began giving mis- 
sions to revive the religious feelings and instruction of 
the neglected classes. To carry on his work, he gath- 
ered a few zealous priests, and founded at La Scala the 
Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer. The fame of 
the wonders wrought by St. Alphonsus and his missioners 
spread through Italy. Pope Clement XIII-, in 1762, 
forced him to accept the See of St. Agatha dei Gotti. 
He became a model for bishops, as he had been a model 
for priests. Austerity and labor seemed to prolong an 
existence prized by all. When nearly eighty, deaf, bent, 
blind, he solicited permission to resign his see ; the Pope 
declined, not to deprive the diocese of the example of 
such sanctity. When finally Pius VI. yielded to his 
entreaty, he retired to a house of his order at Nocera, and 
died there at the age of ninety, August 1st, 1787, sanc- 
tifying the time when Doctor Carroll was organizing the 
Church here as Prefect, and the Pope was about to estab- 
lish the See of Baltimore. He was beatified by Pope 
Pius VII. in 1816, and canonized by Pope Gregory XVI. 
in 1839. 

The Church dedicated to this saint, whom the late 



126 CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 

Sovereign Pontiff declared a Doctor of the Cliurcli, was, 
from the first, productive of great good. It was espe- 
cially the parochial centre of the Germans on the west- 
ern side of the city; but many English-speaking Catholics, 
as there was no chui'ch west of Broadway between 
St. Peter's and St. Joseph's, availed themselves of the 
services of St. Alphonsus. The church was for many 
years attended from the convent adjoining the Church 
of the Most Holy Redeemer, in Third Street ; but in 
1866, Archbishop McCloskey and the superiors of the order 
agreed that it was more advisable to have some Fathers 
residing permanently near the church, in order to give 
the faithful their undivided attention. By a document of 
the Most Reverend Archbishop, dated Sept. 24th, 1866, it 
was to be no longer a parochial but a missionary chiu-ch. 
The Fathers attached to it were allowed to preach and 
hear confessions in all those languages in which it was 
thought they could render aid to the faithful. Moreover, 
they were allowed to perform in said church all the ser- 
vices and ecclesiastical functions prescribed and pennitted 
by their rule. Accordingly, on the 9tli of November, the 
Rev. F. Nicholas Jaeckel, C.SS.R., with some other mem- 
bers of the congregation, took up their abode at the 
parochial residence, No. 6 Thompson Sti-eet. 

It was soon evident that the old chm-ch Avas inade- 
quate to the wants of the mixed congregation that at- 
tended it. Both the German and English-speaking portions. 



OHUKCH OF ST. ALPHONSUS LIGUORI. 127 

attached alike to tlie Clmrcli of St. Alplionsiis and the 
ministrations of the Fathers, were anxious to rear a nobler 
and more spacious structure in his honor. A building- 
society was soon formed, and German, Irish, and Ameri- 
can Catholics co-operated in harmony. 

Ground was secured so as to run tlu'ough from 
Thompson to Laurens, or South Fifth Avenue, and plans 
drawn for the erection there of a church, to be one 
hundred and sixty-tM^o feet in length by eighty feet in 
width. The corner-stone was laid on the 4tli of Septem- 
ber, 1870, with imposing ceremonies. The children con- 
nected with the school came in procession to the ground; 
a long line of clergy, preceding the Archbishop, next 
arrived, and took their stations on a platform. Con- 
fraternities and temperance societies, with bands of music, 
came in orderly succession, and drew up in double line 
around the site of the church. 

Archbishop McCloskey, in cope and mitre, proceeded 
to the stone and blessed it in the manner prescribed by 
the ritual of the Church, and, chanting the * Miserere, 
made the circuit of the ground marked out for the sacred 
edifice. 

In his address to the vast audience, the Archbishop 
congratulated the people and their pastors on the interest 
they displayed, in which he himself joined most fully. 
"You will not allow it to fail," he said; "you will give 
and give again, and make generous sacrifices to this 



128 CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 

work, which is to be, we trust, the source of many- 
blessings in the midst of this vast, and alas ! I must 
add, wicked cit}-, that needs all the opportunities of 
religious instruction, and sources of religious grace, and 
means of heavenly benediction, that can possibly be 
multiplied within it." 

After an address in German by Father Helmpraecht, 
C.SS.R., the Archbishop closed the ceremonies of the day 
with his benediction. 

In little more than a year, the new church was 
ready to receive the flock around the altar. The modest 
five thousand dollar church had been replaced by one 
that cost two hundred and seventy-five thousand. Its 
front is surmounted by a stone statue of the Holy 
Doctor, raised to the spot April 28th, 1871. It is one 
of the most impressive churches in the city, in the dim 
religious light, the feeling of awe and repose that seems 
to reign within. It is built solidly of brick, faced with 
Ohio brown stone, varied with Ulster County blue stone, 
and will 'seat eighteen hundred persons. After passing the 
railing, on the line of the street, a flight of steps leads up 
to the tln-ee portals. Confessionals line the sides of the 
church, with the Stations of the Cross, carved in relievo, be- 
tween them. The whole interior is beautiful in design 
and decoration, leading the eye and thought to centre in 
the altar. This was made in Munich, at a cost of twelve 
thousand dollars, and is an elaborate and graceful work. 



J 



CHURCH OF ST. ALPHONSUS LIGUORI. 129 

rich in its green marble pillars, its profuse gilding, its 
niches with statues of saints. The organ is worthy of 
the church. 

It was solemnly dedicated on the 7th of April, 1872, 
by his Grace the Archbishop of New York, assisted by 
the Very Rev. William Starrs, V.G. ; Rev. Fathers Tschen- 
liens, Cronenberg, and Wirth. After the prescribed cere- 
monies, a Pontifical High Mass was offered by the Right 
Rev. Ignatius Persico, then Bishop of Savannah, with 
Father Freitag as assistant. Father Schadler as deacon, 
and Father Oberle as subdeacon. In the sanctuary were 
a number of clergymen of New York and tlie adjoining 
dioceses. Two sermons were preached — one in English 
by the Rev. Joseph Henning, C.SS.R., of St. Louis, and 
another in German by Rev. Father Loewekamp, C.SS.R., 
of Philadelphia. 

After a few remarks. Archbishop McCloskey bestowed 
his benediction, and the vast crowd dispersed, including 
the Independent Rifle Company, the Societies of the 
Churches of the Most Holy Redeemer, Our Lady of Sor- 
rows, St. John the Baptist, and St. Francis of Assisi. In 
the evening, Bishop Persico delivered a sermon, closing 
the consoling exer'^ises of the first day in the new Church 
of St. Alphonsus. 

On the 28th of the same month, the church wit- 
nessed a spectacle pecidiarly consoling to the Irish por- 
tion of the faithful attendnig the church. The members 
9 



130 CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 

of tlie St. Patrick's Alliance, Fatlier Matthew Temperance 
Societies, and other similar bodies, moved from Union 
Square to the chm*ch, the first society bearing a beauti- 
ful green banner given to the Alliance by the Nun of 
Kenmare. An eloquent sermon was preached by Father 
Burke, C.S.SR., who solemnly blessed the banner. 

Since its erection it has been constantly increasing its 
good work, and is a favorite with many who at certain 
times can even attend mission services here and yet fol- 
low their regular work. The sight of stalwart, serious men 
pouring out of a church at a dim hour of the morning, in 
their working garb, impressed all who beheld it, and a 
foreign artist sketched the scene as one of the most 
striking that he had witnessed in America. 

Connected with the church are the following socie- 
ties : St. Michael's Beneficial Society, St. Alphonsus' Bene- 
ficial Society, and St. Alphonsus' Temperance Society. It 
has a well managed parochial school-house, where about 
two hundred and fifty childi'en are instructed by four 
School " Sisters of Notre Dame. 

St. Alj)honsus Church has had the following rectors : — 

Nov. 7, 1866, Rev. Nicholas Jaeckel, C.SS.R. 

July, 1868, Rev. Ferreol Girardey, C.SS.R. 

Feb., 1870, Rev. William Waykich, C.SS.R. 

Dec, 1872, Rev. Eugene Grimm, C.SS.R. 

July; 1877, Rev. Joseph Wirth, C.SS.R., who is now 
assisted by seven priests. 



CHURCH OF ST. ALPHONSUS LIGUORI. 131 

REV. JOSEPH WIRTH, C.SS.R., 

PASTOR OF ST. ALPHONSUS' CHURCH, SOUTH FIFTH AVENUE. 



THIS clergyman, who lias directed the church for the 
last year, was born in 1832 at Coblentz on the 
Rhine, in the territory of Prussia. After passing through 
the gymnasium in his native place, where he kept him- 
self unsullied, he made his choice of a state of life. Leav- 
ing home and country behind, he proceeded to Belgium, 
and at the age of eighteen applied for admission as a candi- 
date in the novitiate at St. Trond. He soon came to the 
United States with other missionaries of the order, and 
completed his theological studies at the House of Studies, 
established by the Redemptorists at Cumberland, Mary- 
land. Pie received the holy order of priesthood from the 
hands of the learned and Most Rev. Francis Patrick 
Kenrick, D.D., Archbishop of Baltimore, in June, 1857. 

He was engaged in missionary labor for more than ten 
years, residing at various houses of his order. From 1859 
to 1862 he was connected with the Redemptorist Convent 
attached to the Church of St. Alphonsus, on Saratoga 
Street, Baltimore. The next two years we find him among 
the priests of St. Peter's Convent, Philadelphia, who direct 
the Church of St. Peter, on Fifth and Franklin Avenues; 
then again in the Chm-ch of St. Alphonsus, Baltimore. 



132 



CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 



The life of a religious of tliis order is spent in 
study, in tlie constant exercise of the ministry — preaching, 
visiting the sick, hearing confessions, and counseling or 
directing the many who come to such experienced priests 
for guidance : now perhaps a Protestant in whose mind 
and heart the light of truth and grace are struggling 
with the prejudices and calumnies instilled from child- 
hood; again some Catholic, long remiss, a prey to doubt, 
or one fervent, faithful, but perplexed with cares, anxi- 
eties, uncertainties ; mothers anxious for then- sons or 
daughters ; wives wishing to reclaim husbands ; souls 
feeling called to a higher life ; others with no fixed 
ideas; all requiring patience, judgment, and knowledge of 
religion and of the human heart to guide aright. In 
1868, the Rev. Father Wirth was appointed rector of St. 
Michael's Church, Baltimore, and in 1871, the rector of 
the Church of the Most Holy Redeemer, in Third Street, 
New York, a position of great importance and responsi- 
bility, which he filled to the satisfaction of all. 

In July, 1877, he became pastor of the Church of 
St. Alphonsus, and superior of the little community of 
Fathers who occupy the convent adjoining the church, 
where they carry out in an edifying manner the rule 
of the holy ' doctor of the Church who founded the con- 
gregation to which they belong, and who is the revered 
patron of the church under their care. 

The associates of the reverend pastor in the year 



CHURCH OF ST. ALPHONSUS LIGUORI. 



133 



1878 were tlie Rev. Eugene Grimm, C.SS.R; the Rev. 
Adam Kreis, C.SS.R.; the Rev. Phihp Rossbach, C.SS.R.; 
the Rev. Charles Rathke, C.SS.R.; the Rev. James Keitz, 
C.SS.R.; the Rev. Matthew Bohn, C.SS.R.; and the Rev. 
Pliihp Colonel, C.SS.R. 



Roll of Honor. 



Alberitz, Jacob. 
Angermeyer, Andrew. 
Aufenanger, Anton. 
Aufenanger, F. 
Aufenanger, John. 
Aufenanger, J. L. 
Baeder, Catharine. 
Bampf, Joseph. 
Bechold, George. 
Beine, Herman. 
Berger, Catharine. 
Berk, Peter. 
Biegel, Mrs. 
Blank, Anna. 
Blank, George. 
Blesch, John. 
Blessner, Clement. 
Blum, Herman. 
Bode, W. 
Boes, Werner. 
Bracht, W. 
Braeker, William. 
Brager, William. 
Bruns, Joseph. 
Burkhardt, E. 
Buschmann, Bernard. 
Cort, John. 
Dahman, Henry. 
Dahn, Christina. 
Decker, Elizabeth. 
Deiter, Louis. 
Deitmering, Gerhard. 
Derenthal, W. 
Dierker, Hubert. 
Dryer, John. 
Dumpel, Henry. 
Dumpel, Joseph. 



Ehrhardt, Emilia. 
Engel, B. 
Etzel, Albert. 
Etzel, Joseph. 
Etzei, Philip. 
Fahle, John. 
Ferber, Gottfried. 
Fett, Anna. 
Firnstein, B. 
Fischer, Martin. 
Fleckner, John. 
Fleischer, E. 
Fleischer, M. 
Fries, Margaret. 
Germetden, J. 
Gersbach, Joseph. 
Haffner, Charles. 
Hahn, Anna. 
Halk, Jacob B. 
Hanakamp, Franz. 
Hartman, August. 
Heberman, George. 
Heide, Henry. 
Heidnes, Arnold. 
Heinrich, John. 
Hensle, George. 
Henze, W. J. 
Herch, Frank. 
Herdt, Minnie. 
Herm, Xavier. 
Hitzel, Anna M. 
Horn, John A. 
Hoppe, August. 
Hufen, N. 

Hughes, Patrick, Mrs. 
Huhna, John, Jr. 
Horstman, Caspar. 



Keck, Henry. 
Kirchner, Caspar. 
Klovekorn, Henry. 
Kliimke, Gerard. 
Klung, Andrew. 
Knapp, Franz. 
Knaup, Franc, Mrs. 
Knoedel, Vic, Mrs. 
Kracht, Franz. 
Kretzdorn, Ignatius. 
Krompfeifer, A. 
Krompfeifer, W. 
Kuchner, Caspar. 
Lammle, Joseph. 
Lecher, John. 
Leinneweber, John. 
Link, Joseph. 
Linneman, Henry. 
Liiking, P., Mrs. 
Mainardy, Henry. 
Mattes, John. 
Millemann, Catharina. 
Miiller, Bernard. 
Miiller, John. 
Miiller, Nicholas. 
Mumbach, Matthias. 
Mutz, Martin. 
Nalter, Franz. 
Neckert, Franz. 
Nutt, John. 
Nutt, Louis. 
Ocker, Anton. 
Gehnhausen, J. 
Gehnhausen, Louis. 
Ott, John. 
Otten, Joseph. 
Pohle, John. 



Pugel, Anton. 
Rebholz, J. 
Rehermann, Charles. 
Ridder, Herman. 
Riegler, Jacob. 
Rittweger, John. 
Sachs, Michael. 
Baling, Frederick. 
Sassa, Charles, Mrs. 
Schaumwecker, Cath. 
Schmidt, A. 
Schmidt, Jacob. 
Schmidt, Joseph. 
Schneider, Daniel. 
Schrapfer, John. 
Schussler, John. 
Seller, Margaret. 
Serf, Nicholas. 
Siefers, 'August. 
Sommer, Charles. 
Staab, Henry. 
Stengel, Caspar. 
Stoll, Jacob. 
Thiel, Nicholas. 
Thole, Henry. 
Thone, Frederick. 
Uhl, George. 
Volker, Joseph. 
Voss, Frederick. 
Walgerin, Amelia, Mrs. 
Weiserbach, Joseph. 
Wertzen, Catherine. 
Wilhelm, Anton. 
Wingenfeld, Moritz. 
Winkle, John. 
Wuhl, Barbara. 
Zink, Margaret. 




C H U 11 C H OF S A I N 'J^ ANDREW. 

DUANE STKKKT AND CITY HALL PLACE 



ST. ANDREW'S CHURCH. 

DUANE STREET AND CITY HALL PLACE. 



WHEN the Catholics of New York began to agi- 
tate against the injustice which deprived their 
parochial schools of the portion of the fund so long paid 
to them, and so honestly and beneficially expended, in order 
to devote the whole school money of the community to 
the Public School Society, in whose institutions Catholic 
children were required to learn as lessons insults to their 
faith and libels on their clergy, the meetings found no 
convenient place of assemblage. The basements of St. 
James' and other churches were at first used, but as it 
became evident that the struggle for their rights as American 
citizens was not to be a brief one, a hall in a central 
position became desirable. It is one of the curious facts 
in relation to New York City that you can almost always 
find a Protestant church for sale. This has often jDroved 
advantageous, and did so in the present case. In 1818, 
the Universalists erected on the corner of Duane Street 
and Augustus, now City Plall Place, a substantial brick 
building sixty-seven feet square. The congregation had 
faded away; the basement was used for storing wine and 
ale. The leasehold on the property, which had nineteen 
years to run, was accordingly purchased by the Catholics 



136 CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 

early in 1841, for $5,400, with the view of using the 
bnilding- for their meeting's. It received the name of 
Carroll Hall, and as such it became identified with the 
agitation and with the ticket which the Catholics were 
forced to adopt when the politicians of the two politi- 
cal parties pledged themselves to resist their claim. 

A more equitable school system was at last adopted 
by the Legislature, and the immediate need passed for 
maintaining a public hall ; but Bishop Hughes found 
that the growing Catholic popidation in that neighborhood 
required a new church, the accommodations afforded by 
St. Peter's, the Transfiguration, and St. James', being insuf- 
ficient. 

The project was warmly taken up by the Rev. An- 
drew Byrne, long pastor of St. James', and by his zeal 
and energy the building was speedily repaired and fitted 
up for the offering of the Holy Sacrifice according to 
our admirable and ancient ritual; and ere long the fee 
was acquired, and it became entirely Catholic property. 

On the 19th of March, 1842, it was solemnly ded- 
icated in honor of St. Andrew by the Right Reverend 
Bishop Hughes, who delivered a sermon long remem- 
bered by the people whose happiness it was to hear 
his eloquent words. The High Mass was celebrated by 
Bishop Benedict J. Fenwick of Boston, who had in early 
life labored so earnestly and devoutly to build up Cath- 
olicity in our city. In the sanctuary were many of the 



ST. ANDEEW'S CHURCH. 137 

priests of tlie churches on the island, tliree of whom, 
Rev. Messrs. Byrne, Quarter, and Bacon, were soon to 
become members of the hierarchy. 

The Churches of the two holy Apostles — " The first, 
Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother " — 
thus stand about equally distant from our municipal Park, 
as if guardians of our city's weal. 

It was the privilege of St. Andrew to be the first 
of the Apostles to know our Lord, and his special grace 
to have Jesus pointed out to him as the promised 
Messias by St. John the Baptist, whose disciple he was. 
He it was who led to the feet of Jesus his greater 
brother Peter, and humbly took an inferior place among 
the chosen disciples. His field of missionary labor was that 
part of Southern Russia where France and England grap- 
pled with her power, and the parts of Turkey just swept 
by the Muscovite hordes. Plis glorious life closed as did 
his brother's, by martyrdom on the cross ; but its form 
differed also from our Lord's, being like the letter X. 
He won his triumph at Patra, in Greece, and is honored 
as a special patron by Russia and by Scotland. 

The Rev. Andrew Byrne became the pastor of this 
new church, and soon after, on the 1st of May, deliv- 
ered an eloquent discourse on the life, character, and 
services of Bishop England, then recently deceased. He 
organized the parish with the ability he had elsewhere 
displayed, but was not long afterwards called away to 



138 CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 

direct the new Churcli of the Nativity, in which he had 
been interested from the first. He was succeeded by 
the Rev. John Mag-inness, also from St. James' Chnrch. 
Under liis direction the parish became important in num- 
bers and the increasing- fidehty of the people to all the 
duties required by their faith. 

In 1850 the pastorship was confided by the Most 
Reverend Archbishop to a priest already experienced in 
parochial life, who was continuing- the zealous labors of 
his uncle and namesake, for many years a priest in the 
Diocese of New York. This was the Rev. Michael Cm-- 
ran, Jr., who was aj)pointed to St. Andrew's Cliurch in 
1850, and is still, after twenty-eight years' pastoral labor, 
its parish j)riest. The long- connection shows the har- 
mony existing between the pastor and his flock, and its 
annals also show that the church retained as assistant, 
for nearly twenty years, a Polish priest, known to many 
of our citizens, the Rev. Lewis Terhykowicz. 

Among the interesting incidents in the history of the 
church, may be noted an impressive one on the 30th of 
May, 1858. Nearly five hundred persons were confirmed. 
Among them, an aged and infirm man named John Burns, 
who had never received that sacrament, was supported to 
the sanctuary. But the effort was too much for his tot- 
tering strength. He sank down on the floor of the sanc- 
tuary. Archbishop Hughes proceeded to the spot and 
confirmed him. Full of happiness, and with silent prayers, 



ST. ANDREW'S CHURCH. I39 

he was removed, and expired almost im.mediately, the 
unction of confirmation being- his last. 

In 1859, the city, carrying out some improvements, 
decided to widen Duane Street and open E,eade Street 
through to Chatham. This new line, established by the 
Commissioners, cut off a considerable portion of the front 
of St. Andrew's Church, leaving, in fact, so little of the 
original building as to render it no longer of any use 
for church purposes. Yet so unjust was the assessment, 
that while only eight thousand dollars was allowed for 
the damage thus done, the congregation were called upon 
to pay ten thousand dollars for the imaginary benefit 
they were to receive. 

It became necessary for the pastor and congregation 
to decide upon a course. The house adjoining the church 
had some years before been seciu-ed as a residence for 
the pastor. Antiquarians pointed it out as one of the 
houses occupied for a time by Gleorge Washington ; but 
St. Andrew's Church could be maintained only by remov- 
ing this building and extending the church over the ground. 
It was accordingly purchased, and a plan adopted for 
remodeling and beautifying the building, by erecting a 
new front on the proposed street line, removing the altar 
to the north end, and decorating the interior. 

Notwithstanding the hard times, the zealous pastor 
pushed on the work rapidly, and adding a spire to the 
church, he extended it twenty-five feet in the rear, and 



140 CATHOLTO CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 

there erected a very beautiful altar, surmounted by a 
very artistic painting of the Crucifixion, with paintings 
of St. Patrick and St. Andrew on either side. Above 
the altar rose a tabernacle of very chaste design, fitly 
crowned by an exquisite ivory crucifix. The whole interior 
was also frescoed in a superior manner. 

The remodeled church, thus creditably completed, was 
solemnly dedicated on the 20tli of October, 1861, by 
the Very Rev. William Starrs, Vicar-General of the Dio- 
cese, who celebrated High Mass, assisted by the Rev. 
John McCloskey, Vice-President of Mount St. Mary's 
College, and the Rev. Sylvester Malone, of Brooklyn, 
as deacon and subdeacon, and the Rev. Francis McNeir- 
ny, now Bishop of Albany, as master of ceremonies. 
The Rt. Rev. John Loughlin, Bishop of Brooklyn, de- 
livered a sermon from the text, " Render unto Caesar the 
things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are 
God's." 

At the solemn vespers in the evening. Dr. McQuaid, 
now Bishop of Rochester, delivered a discourse on the 
goodness, power, and magnificence of Mary. 

The basement of the church was fitted up as a con- 
venient and attractive chapel, and the congregation proved 
their appreciation of the new edifice by their zeal and 
liberality. An Altar Society showed the devotion of the 
ladies ; a Rosary Society, the fervor of the congregation ; 
while their care for the poor was shown in the relief 



ST. ANDREW'S CHURCH. 141 

afforded by the Society of St. Vincent de Paul and the 
Ladies' Benevolent Society. 

The Sunday-schools, attended by nearly a thousand 
children, proved that the rising generation were well 
trained in the faith of their fathers. 

The congregation had for some years peacefully wor- 
shiped in their restored church, so creditable to their 
taste and piety, when its annals were dimmed by a sad 
and terrible accident. As time >vent on, a large commer- 
cial building was erected beside the modest shrine of St. 
Andrew, overtopping its roof and cross. In the winter of 
1874-5, a fire broke out in this building, then occupied 
by a great crockery firm. When the flames had con- 
sumed the wood-work the tall walls were left, and by a 
criminal neglect were not secured in any way. The 
church received some slight damage from fire and water, 
but was not materially injured. 

Unsuspicious of danger, the congregation of St. Andrew's 
continued to use their church, and dm'ing the Lenten sea- 
son the sacred edifice was densely crowded. On the even- 
ing of Thm'sday, February 25, 1875, while all were listen- 
ing intently to a sermon on Death, from the Rev. Thomas 
Carroll, of St. Stephen's, there was a sound of rushing wind, 
a rattling of windows, followed by a crash as of awful 
thunder. The plastering on the east side of the ceiling 
gave way, and pointed fragments of rafters were driven 
down on the people in the galleries. One woman, Mary 



142 CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 

G. Conners, was killed on the spot, and all the rest rushed 
madly towards the door, in a frantic desire to escape. 
On the stairs many were injm-ed, and although the clergy, 
hastening to the spot, endeavored to allay the panic and 
restore calm, four persons were crushed to death. To the 
pastor, to whom every member of the flock had grown 
dear in his long pastorate, this sad accident was a terrible 
affliction. Overcome by his deep feeling and grief, he 
oifered a solemn requiem for them in St. Peter's. 

St. Andrew's Church, of which the pastor and people 
had been so proud, was a wreck, tinged with sad and 
mournful memories ; but the main structure was still firm, 
and the Rev, Mr„ Curran proceeded to restore it once 
more, and fit it for his people. The falling wall had crush- 
ed in a part of the roof, carrying rafters and beams with it, 
and filling the church with ruin. The restoration required 
new care and expense ; but St. Andi'ew's came forth more at- 
tractive than ever, and was again dedicated to God's service. 

The zeal of the congregation may be seen in the fact 
that, in the last collection for the benefit of the American 
College at Rome, that seminary, erected by Pope Pius 
IX. of blessed memory, which has sent forth so many 
learned and zealous priests, the little Church of St. An- 
di-ew led all others in the amount of its contribution. 
His Holiness Pope Leo XIII. evinced his appreciation of 
this liberality by presenting to the venerable pastor an 
elegant gold chalice for the congregation. 



ST. ANDREW'S CHURCH. 143 

REV. MICHAEL CUERAN, 

PASTOR OF ST. ANDREW'S CHURCH. 



THE venerable pastor of St. Andrew's is now, in 
point of ordination as well as in tlie length of liis 
pastorship, one of the oldest priests of the Diocese of New 
York. He was born near Emyvale, in the County of 
Monaghan, Ireland, in 1813. His boyish ideas all looked 
to America as his future home, and he studied away in 
the determined way natural to him, to lit himself for the 
battle of life. Though he left his native country at the 
early age of thirteen, it is characteristic of him that his 
name Avas already signed in his boy chirography to a 
monster petition in favor of Catholic Emancipation. 

He landed in Delaware, and Avas welcomed in Penn- 
sylvania by his uncle, then pastor at Harrisburg, and 
subsequently well known in New York. 

The young man was soon sent to Mount St. Mary's 
College, at Emmittsburg, Maryland, where he spent four 
years, acquitting himself well and creditably. On leav- 
ing that institution he went into mercantile life, and was 
for some years in the dry goods business at Rochester; 
but his mind and heart turned to the sanctuary, and wise 
directors guided the impulse. 

He accordingly proceeded to Canada, and spent eight- 



144 CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 

een months in a seminary near Montreal; but Bishop 
Plughes had meanwhile established a diocesan seminary at 
Rose Plill, Fordham, and smnmoned the young Levite to 
complete liis course of divinity there. Here he was among 
the first to enroll his name, and, persevering in his vo- 
cation, was ordained by Bishop Hughes, in the chapel 
attached to the institution, on the 14th of AjDril, 1844. 

As he had evinced no little skill in management, 
happily combining firmness with gentle persistence and 
great system, he was made prefect of discipline in St. 
John's College, and for a year discharged the duties of 
the arduous post with general satisfaction. 

He was then permitted to begin his career as a 
missionary priest in a great city; and, as assistant at 
St. James' Chui-cli, had a position that required great 
patience, charity, endurance, and zeal. The probation 
showed his qualities, and Bishop Hughes sent him to 
the parish of St. John the Evangelist. Tliat church had 
just been sold under a foreclosure, and his charge was one 
of difficulty. For two years, tlie Rev. Mr. Cm-ran assem- 
bled his parishioners in the building which had many 
years previous been occupied by the Jesuit Fathers as 
a college. Here he said mass, and, by laboring, nego- 
tiating, and collecting, sacrificing all personal comfort to 
the end in view, he succeeded in repurchasing the church 
on favorable terms, and in one year reduced the debt 
incurred from eight thousand to two thousand dollars. 



ST. ANDREWS CHURCH. 145 

His success induced the bishop to appoint him to 
St. Peter's, then much involved, but he shrank from the 
task, and accepted readily the humbler position of pastor 
of St. Andrew's, in 1850. His labors in that parish we 
have seen. 

The Rev. Mr. Curran found the church in great finan- 
cial embarrassment, but he so won on his people that 
his first call on them to meet a long- standing- debt — 
a generous loan made at the commencement of the church, 
and now needed by the lender to enable him to return, 
an invalid, to his native land — was so liberally met that 
he had a surplus for other claims also. 

During- a few years of his pastorship, the E,ev. Mr. 
Curran, by constant exertion, succeeded in relieving- his 
church entirely from a debt of $22,000. HaAdng cleared 
the church of debt, he secured a pastoral residence ; then 
restored the cluu'ch when the city had wrecked it, and 
paid off most of the debt incurred, and has since been 
compelled to restore it once more. 

The restoration in 1859 was not accomplished with- 
out great personal exertion on the part of the pastor, as 
the cost amounted to over fifty thousand dollars, including 
the purchase of a new parochial residence. Within the 
year from the commencement of the work, the Rev. Mr. 
Curran, by collections, lectures, and fairs, paid off no less 
than twenty-seven thousand dollars. 

In the fearful accident, he was nearly added to the 
10 



146 CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 

victims. The chair on which he sat was crushed to 
atoms, and he was covered with dust and plaster; but 
without a thought for himself, he hastened at once to 
still the panic, and prevent, as far as he could, the fatal 
consequences. That many more did not perish is due, 
in no small degree, to his coolness and power of com- 
mand. 

His residence, simple and plain as himself and his 
flock, shows the affection of his people. A beautiful and 
enduring marble table bears indelibly his name and that 
of the church, so long associated in the hearts of the 
faithful; and on the mantel stands a frame with a poet- 
ical tribute from the Sisters of Mercy, to one who has 
for thirty years been their earnest friend and supporter. 



ST. ANDREW'S CHURCH. 



147 



R 



OLL OF 



H 



ONOR. 



Bennett, George. 
Bowers, Charles W. 
Broderick, Edward. 
Burke, Michael. 
Burney, Ann, Mrs. 
Byrne, Hugh. 
Campbell, James. 
Carleton, John. 
Cavanagh, Michael. 
Clancy, James. 
Clarke, Francis J. 
Clifford, James. 
Comerford, Ellen, Mrs. 
Conway, John. 
Corrigan, P. 
Costello, James. 
Cox, Bridget. 
Curtis, Mary, Mrs. 
Devins, Patrick. 
Divver, Patrick. 
Downey, Cornelius J. 
Doyle, James P. 
Doyle, Patrick. 
Driscoll, Daniel. 
Duane, Michael. 
Dunleavy, Bridget. 
Dunphy, James. 
Emmett, Charles. 
Fitzgerald, Thomas. 
Flynn, James. 
Flynn, Patrick. 
Foley, Michael. 
Foster, Charles. 



Freel, Hugh. 
Freel, Patrick. 
Gallagher, Martin. 
Geraghty, Ennis. 
Gougherty, Bernard. 
Grady, M. 
Hamill, T. 

Harrington, William. 
Healey, Jane. 
Hennessy, Eliza. 
Higgins, Patrick. 
Hurley, Thomas H. 
Jones, Morgan. 
Keane, Maurice. 
Kearns, Joseph. 
Kennedy, William H. 
Kerwin, Michael. 
Lewis, John. 
Lysaght, Mary, Mrs. 
McCann, Owen. 
McClaine, Alexander. 
McCloskey, Andrew, Jr. 
McGuire, Mary, Mrs. 
McKenna, Ann, Mrs. 
Mackey, John. 
McPartland, Daniel. 
Martin, Patrick. 
Martin, Patrick, Jr. 
Mehegan, Patrick. 
Melvin, Matthew. 
Mitchell, John. 
Molaghan, Mary A., Mrs. 
Moloney, William H. 



Molony, Edward. 
Mountjoy, William. 
Muldoon, Patiick. 
Mullins, John, Mrs. 
Mulrooney, Cath., Mrs. 
Murray, Ann, Mrs. 
Nicholson, John. 
Nugent, William S. 
O'Brien, John D. 
O'Callahan, Dennis. 
O'Connor, Dennis J. 
O'Connor, Lucy, Mrs. 
O'Connor, Thomas. 
O'Dea, John, Mrs. 
O'Donohue, Patrick. 
O'Leary, Timothy. 
O'Neil, Cornehus. 
O'Neil, Daniel. 
O'Rourke, Francis. 
O'Sullivan, Ellen. 
Perfetti, Margaret, Mrs. 
Riordan, Eugene. 
Rouse, John. 
Russell, Michael. 
Ryan, James. 
Ryan, Mary T. 
Shea, John B. 
Smith, Hugh. 
Skehan, Murtha. 
Smith, P. M. 
Tallon, Patrick. 
Ward, Patrick. 
Whelan, Jane, Mrs. 




CHURCH OF SAINT ANN. 

EAST TWELFTH STREET. 



SAINT ANN'S CHURCH 

EAST TWELFTH STEEET. 



ON East Twelfth Street, between Third and Fourth 
Avenues, stands an elegant French Gothic chiu-ch, 
of very pure design and of noble dimensions, dedicated 
to St. Ann, tlie holy spouse of St. Joachim and mother 
of the Blessed Virgin Mary. 

It is one of the triumphs of Mary, that even in 
those sects that have cut themselves off from the Church 
of her Divine Son, she has, in a manner, forced them 
to continue to dedicate churches in her own honor, and 
even in honor of her holy mother. There were Protestant 
churches of St. Ann in this country before Catholics had 
erected one. 

In 1852, the want of a church somewhere in the 
vicinity of Astor Place began to be felt. As the ex- 
act position of ' the future church of the parish could 
scarcely be decided, the Most Reverend Archbishop deter- 
mined to secure some convenient building for temporary 
use. A church stood on Eighth Street offering itself to 
the buyer. It was not without its history Years be- 
fore, it had reared its spire on Murray Street, and 
echoed to the voice of Mason, a once famous preacher 



150 CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 

of Calvin's terrible tenets. In time it had been taken 
down, stone by stone, carted up to Eightli Street, and 
rebuilt. As a Presbyterian churcli it did not succeed; 
it became Episcopal, tlien Presbyterian again. Its balls 
had heard indeed many forms of error, but the time had 
come, as Mr. Disosway suggests, when disheartening dog- 
mas and unscriptural worship were to give way to the 
consoling faith, the apostolic liturgy of the Church of the 
Living God. 

The building once acquired was speedily adapted to 
the noblest and holiest form of worship, the altar and 
chancel being the work of Mr. Walsh, an excellent archi- 
tect. The chui'ch was dedicated to Almighty God under 
the invocation of St. Ann, on the 1st of June, 1852. 
Seldom has a church dedication gathered so many dis- 
tinguished bishops as were seen that day in the sanctuary 
of the new church. Besides the Most Reverend Arch- 
bishop of New York, there might be seen Bishops Miles 
of Nashville, Fitzpatrick of Boston, O'Connor of Pitts- 
burgh, and Spaulding of Louisville, Avith the Pev. Messrs. 
Loughlin and Bacon, subsequently bishops, Very Rev. 
William Starrs, Dr. Pise, and many of the city clergy. 

The dedication ceremonies were performed by Bishop 
Miles of Nashville, and when the building had thus been 
set apart for Catholic worship, the Rt. Rev. John B. 
Fitzpatrick, Bishop of Boston, celebrated a Pontifical High 
Mass, with the learned Dr. Jeremiah W. Cummings as 



SAINT ANN'S CHURCH. 151 

deacon, the Rev. George McCloskey as subdeacon, and 
the Rev. Annet Lafont as assistant. After the sermon the 
Rt. Rev. Michael O'Connor, Bishop of Pittsburgh, preached 
a very able and eloquent sermon, taking as his text the 
words of the gospel : '' An adulterous generation seeketh 
for a sign ; a sign shall not be given it, but the sign 
of Jonas the prophet." 

Tlie new church thus placed under the patronage of 
St. Ann was soon well attended. Devotion to this model 
of mothers is less diffused among us than among our 
neighbors, the Catholics of Canada, where a celebrated 
pilgrimage has long endeared her to the pious by the 
many favors obtained tlu-ough her intercession; the In- 
dians, too, who were won in early times by the French 
missionaries, shared the devotion, and all their churches 
in Maine are dedicated to St. Ann. 

She was, the wife of St. Joachim, and their holy 
life of domestic peace, affection, and piety, had but one 
trial, which it required all their virtue to bear. They 
were childless. This was then a reproach among the 
Jews, and was looked uj)on almost as a punishment from 
Grod. Tradition says that St. Ann, treated with contumely 
on that account, offered special sacrifices in the temple 
of Grod to be delivered from her reproach. A daughter 
was given to her, in whom all the nations of the earth 
were to be blessed, who was to be saluted by an angel 
from heaven and become the mother of the long ex- 



152 CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 

pected Messias. Their cliild was, however, a special gift 
from Heaven, and they consecrated her specially to God, 
presenting her in the temple at the age of three. Blessed 
in seeing her grow up in piety witnin those sacred walls, 
they died full of gladness and holy hope, before her 
betrothal to St. Joseph, as the silence of the gospels 
evidently gives us to understand. 

The Church of St. Ann was confided to the Rev. 
John MmTay Forbes, who remained in charge of the 
mission till the year 1859, assisted from time to time by 
various clergymen. The Rev. H. T. Brady then directed 
it for a short time, but in 1862 the parish was confided 
to the care of the worthy Chancellor of the diocese, 
Rev. Thomas S. Preston, whose name has ever since been 
identified with the Church of St. Ann. 

He made great improvements in the interior, and 
replaced the altar by one far grander, and obtained one 
of the largest organs then in the city. The church met 
the wants of the parish for a few years longer, but it soon 
stood in the centre of a business population, and there was 
no ground near that could be acquired at any reasonable 
price for a pastoral residence or for schools and other 
parochial use. It was finally determined to abandon the 
old site and seek a new location for St. Ann's. Ground 
was obtained running thi'ough from Eleventh to Twelfth 
Street, part of it being covered by a building erected 
as a Jewish synagogue. St. Ann is a saint of the 



SAINT ANN'S CHUECH. 153 

old law, and as the Church of the new law thus shows 
her union with the past, it was not without a certain 
analogy that a church of St. Ann should rise on the 
spot where the ancient Jewish service was recited in the 
language which she had heard in her day in the temple 
and synagogue. The corner-stone of the new church was 
laid by the Vicar General of the diocese, the Very Rev. 
William Starrs, on Sunday, July 1st, 1870. 

The Very Rev. Dr. Preston resolved to make his 
new church at once splendid and enduring. It is one 
hundred and sixty-six feet in length and sixty-three feet 
eight inches in width, the architecture being the pure 
French Gothic of the thirteenth century. The plan was 
to erect a solid and substantial edifice, and no cost was 
spared to insure permanent beauty. The building cost one 
hundred and sixty thousand dollars, and was completed 
in the latter part of the year 1870. The interior is 
divided into a nave, with a clerestory and aisles. The 
nave terminates in an apsis at the southern end, which 
gives ample space for the high altar and two chapels. 
On each side of the church runs a gallery, but not ex- 
tending so far as to overlook the altar, stopping within 
thirty feet of the chancel. The ceilings of the nave and 
aisles are groined, and the exterior of the pews and the 
front of the galleries are executed in hard wood. The 
sacristies are between the church and the school building. 
The interior decorations are not glaring, but quiet and 



154 



CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 



subdued, giving- the church a devotional, without a gloomy 
look, and that eminent sense of quiet wliich falls so sooth- 
ingly on a mind vexed and perplexed by the cares of 
this world. 

No portion of the former structure was retained in 
the new church except a part of the front wall, which 
was used without impairing symmetry or strength. 

In the rear of the church, and fronting Eleventh 
Street, was erected a well-built parochial school-house, 
seventy-five feet by forty feet, and four stories in height, 
with a capacious basement. It is fitted up Avith all the 
improvements that have been tested and accepted in 
schools generally. 

This fine church was dedicated on the 1st day of 
January, 1871, the Most Reverend Archbishop jDerforming 
the ceremony. The ritual calls for a procession around 
the church, and then around the interior, sprinkling the 
walls with holy water, accompanied by prayer. The 
former part of the ceremony is seldom possible with our 
city churches, which are closely surrounded by other 
buildings ; but the procession moves around within, chant- 
ing the Miserere and the Litany of the Saints, with a 
special invocation asking God to vouchsafe to cleanse and 
bless the church and altar to His honor, and in the pres- 
ent case in the name of St. Ann. Then comes the special 
prayer: "0 God, who hallo west the places dedicated to 
thy name, pour forth upon this house of prayer, thy 



SAINT ANN'S CHURCH. 155 

grace, that all wlio here invoke thy name may feel the 
help of thy mercy." 

After the close of the touching* dedicatory services, 
the altar was adorned for the sacrifice, and a Solemn 
High Mass was offered up, the celebrant being the Vicar 
General, the Very Rev. William Starrs ; the deacon, the 
Rev. R. L. Burtsell, D.D., pastor of the Church of the 
Epiphany, who had for a time been assistant at the 
former church ; the subdeacon, the Rev. J. A. Keogh ; 
the master of ceremonies, the Rev. Francis McNeirny, 
then secretary to the Archbishop, assisted by the Rev. 
W. C. Poole. The music was worthy of the occasion, 
being under tlie direction of Prof Louis Dachauer, the 
organist of the church, a grand orchestra blending its 
strains with those of the noble organ. 

The sermon was delivered by the Most Rev. John 
McCloskey of Albany, now Cardinal and Archbishop of 
New York; his text being from the sublime prophecy of 
St. John, Apoc, xxi. 2: "And I John saw the holy 
city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven, 
from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 
And I heard a great voice from the tlu'one, saying, Be- 
hold the tabernacle of God with men, and he will dwell 
with them. And they shall be his people, and God him- 
self with them shall be their God." 

After congratulating the congregation and their worthy 
pastor on the completion of the work, which had for so 



156 CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YOEK. 

long a time occupied their tliouglits and demonstrated 
their zeal, he showed that the Almighty had from the 
beginning prescribed various formalities, which invested 
the place of sacrifice with a certain sacred character, 
and that blessings might be expected by the faithful for 
their devotion to their temples. It was only when Cath- 
olics looked with the eye of faith at the sacred con- 
tents of their tabernacles, and contemplated the sublime 
dogma of Christ's sacramental presence on their altars, 
the secret of the Church's unity of faith, that they 
could realize why the Church has ever sought to render 
sanctuaries as splendid as the world's wealth can make 
them, and why they have an abiding hope that their 
exertions in this regard will meet with due acknowledg- 
ment from Him who is justice itself 

In this sacred edifice the Blessed Sacrament would 
now be offered up daily for the spiritual strengthening 
of the faithful. Innumerable were the advantages which 
the Catholics of the parish would derive from the church, 
which had that day been solemnly blessed. Henceforth 
it would stand ' to testify to the strength of their relig- 
ious faith, and be at the same time the fountain of many 
benedictions for them. 

Here would come the sinner, bending beneath the 
weight of sin, to find peace and pardon in the tribunal 
of penance. From this altar the Clu-istian soul, refreshed 
by the Bread of Angels, would go forth with renewed 



SAINT ANN'S CHURCH. I57 

strength to battle against the enemies of salvation. Here 
they would come to send np their prayers, and to as- 
sist at the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, beseeching the 
Giver of all good gifts to visit them with such bless- 
ings as in His mercy and knowledge He saw to be 
necessary for their spiritual welfare. 

"I sincerely pray that God will give you all the 
grace of final perseverance in virtue, so that after doing 
your duty here below, you may at last, when God calls 
you hence, die the death of the just, and be permitted 
to adore God in those tabernacles where 'faith is vision 
and hope possession,' and where the reward of a well- 
spent life is the happiness that knows neither limit nor 
end." 

At the solemn vespers, in the evening, a sermon 
was preached by the E,t. E-ev. Dr. John Loughlin, Bishop 
of Brooklyn. 

The church, begun under such happy auspices, has 
enjoyed great prosperity. The faithful have contributed 
liberally to all the methods adopted for reducing the in- 
cumbrances on their noble temple, and delivering it abso- 
lutely from debt. 

The parochial school, admirably accommodated in the 
building erected for the purpose, is directed by the Sis- 
ters of Charity, and numbers some two hundred and 
fifty boys and nearly six hundred girls. 

The parish has an institution under its charge, the 



158 CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 

admirable '' House of the Holy Family for Befriending- 
Children and Young- Girls," at 136 Second Avenue, which 
shelters a hundred inmates in its walls, and has ex- 
ceeded even the most sanguine anticipations of the good 
it was to accomplish. 

On the feast of Corpus Christi, June 20th, 1878, 
the St. Ann's Literary Union was organized, in rooms 
fitted up for their use in Eleventh Street. The Union is 
under the spiritual directorship of the Rev. James W. 
Hayes. There is a Literary Society of Young Ladies, 
directed by Rev. Thomas F. Lynch. There are also Soci- 
eties of the Blessed Virgin, for both men and women. 




^vji^^ ^62=^.^^ . ^-J. 



SAINT ANN'S CHURCH. 



159 



VERY EEV. THOMAS S. PRESTON, 

VICAK GENEEAL AND CHANCELLOR OF THE DIOCESE OF NEW YORK. 



THE pastor of St. Ann's has discharged, besides the 
parochial duties among the flock confided to his 
care, important and responsible trusts in the diocese, hold- 
ing the position of Vicar General, and also of Chancellor. 
Notwithstanding all this, he has made leisure for literary 
work, and enriched our libraries with doctrinal and de- 
votional works, as clear in exposition as they are replete 
with piety and unction. 

He was born at Hartford, Connecticut, in July, 1824, 
and was educated in his native city, having been grad- 
uated in 1843 from Trinity College, which was the 
Ahna Mater also of the late Archbishop Bayley. 

He was then a member of the Protestant Episcopal 
Church, and wishing to devote himself to the ministry, 
he entered the General Theological Seminary of that 
body, in New York City, and having passed through 
their course of divinity, was ordained a minister in 1846. 
The awakening of sound study and sounder thought in 
that body, both in England and this country, had, how- 
ever, gone so far, that many who entered the ministry 
began to feel that true peace and true faith could be 



160 CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 

found alone in that clinrch from which their ancestors, 
some few by choice, but most by compulsion, separated 
in the sixteenth century, 

Mr. Preston was one of tliese. The light dawning 
on his mind was not rejected; prayer for guidance 
brought grace and strength, and he became a Catholic 
in 1849. His vocation to the priesthood was deemed so 
solid, his study of Catholic theology so extensive, that 
after a short period in St. Joseph's Seminary, Fordham, 
he was ordained in the winter of the following year, 
November 16th, 1850, by the Rt. Rev. John McCloskey, 
Bishop of Albany. 

After being for a time assistant at St. Patrick's Cathe- 
dral, he was appointed to the newly established Church 
of the Immacidate Conception at Yonkers. Here he did 
much to give the parish a proper organization, drew in the 
careless and negligent, won many to the faith, and showed 
all the qualities of a good priest. 

In October, 1853, Archbishop Hughes appointed him 
his secretary, and he returned to the Cathedral. The Rev. 
J. R. Bayley, in order to systematize the business of the 
diocese, had labored to organize a Chancery office, and 
Rev. Mr. Preston was selected, in 1855, to take charge 
of this important department. Under his direction every- 
thing has become as systematic and well ordered as the 
affairs of a government or financial institution. In this 
he has rendered signal service to the diocese, and during 



SAINT ANN'S CHURCH. 161 

his long incumbency has given such a precedent for all 
departments connected with it, that there will be no 
difficulty in maintaining- the high standard attained. 

In 1861, as we have seen, he was appointed pastor 
of St. Ann's Church, and continued to discharge his old 
duties without interfering with the laborious calls of his 
jDarish, although the purchase of groimd and the erection 
of a new church, with its schools, might well have been 
deemed sufficient labor for one priest. 

After discharging these combined duties for twelve 
years, a new honor, with corresponding burdens, was con- 
ferred upon him. The Archbishop of New York made the 
Rev. Mr. Preston one of his Vicars General. As a mem- 
ber of the Archbishop's Council, he had already been one 
of the advisers of his Grace on the affairs of the diocese ; 
his new position required also at times an active part in 
the administration. 

He is, as may be seen, one of the most hard work- 
ing as he is one of the most amiable and beloved of 
the priests in the diocese ; neither among the clergy nor 
the faithful have any been found to complain of his ac- 
tion in the various and often delicate matters before him. 

As a preacher, he is polished, eloquent, and convinc- 
ing, as his published sermons attest. Besides these he has 
written, " The Ark of the Covenant," '' Lectures on Chris- 
tian Unity," ''Reason and Revelation," "The Vicar of 

Christ," "Christ and the Church." 
11 



162 CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 

The Catholic World says of the Very Eev. Mr. Pres- 
ton : " He has merited well of the Church by his zeal- 
ous and efficient devotion to the cause of the Pope and 
the Holy See, and his continual efforts to instruct the 
Catholic laity in sound doctrine in this most essential mat- 
ter. The style is grave and serious, copious and flowing, 
and warmed with a spirit of fervent love to the souls 
of men. It is the style, not of a mere essayist, but of a 
preacher." 



SAINT ANN'S CHURCH. 



1G3 



R 



OLL OF 



H 



ONOR. 



Ashman, Amaziah L. 
Barrett, Jane, Mrs. 
Bedford, Gunning S. 
Birmingham, Edward. 
Brennan, Edward. 
Chatillon, Cath., Mrs. 
Coffin, George. 
Coudert, Frederick R. 
Delano, Catharine, Mrs. 
Delmonico, Lorenzo. 
Dooley, James. 
Duffy, Richard G. 
Dunn, M. J. 
Echeverria, Pio. 
Farnham, Margaret G. 
Fay, Edward. 
Ferrero, Edward. 
Gass, John E. 
Gaynor, John. 
Gibert, Frederick Edw'd. 
Goggin, Eugene. 
Griffin, James. 



Hatfield, S. 
Hennessy, Dennis. 
Hogan, Michael. 
Hutchison, John. 
Jewell, Frank H. 
Kerrigan, Charles. 
Keyes, Edward L. 
Kinnear, Margaret A. 
Latasa, F., Mrs. 
Lawler, Michael. 
Le Brun, Napoleon. 
Lynch, Teresa, Mrs. 
Lyness, B. 
McClure, D. 
McGovern, Edward. 
McGuire, Mary. 
McKeon, John H. 
McKeon, M., Mrs. 
McKnight, Thomas. 
McMahon, Martin T. 
McMahon, P. 
Maguire, Andrew. 



Maguire, Peter W. 
Mohan, Thomas. 
Murray, Ann, Mrs. 
Navarro, Jose F. de 
O'Brien, John. 
O'Brien, William. 
O'Connor, Thomas J. 
O'Shaughnessy, John W. 
O'Shaughnessy, J. R. G. 
Otis, Frank. 
Philbin, Stephen. 
Plunkett, Peter E. 
Rafter, Edward. 
Reidy, Ellen. 
Reilly, Bryan. 
Reynolds, Mary, Mrs. 
Rigney, Elizabeth, Mrs. 
Short, Michael. 
Smith, James F. 
Starr, F. J. 
Ward, Ann M., Mrs. 




CHURCH OF THE ANNUNCIATION. 

BROADWAY, CORNER OF WEST ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY-FIRST STREET. 



CHURCH OF THE ANNUNCIATION. 

BROADWAY AND ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY-FIRST STREET, 
MANHATTANVILLE. 



FOR many years St. Paul's Churcli at Harlem was the 
only shrine of religion for the Catholics scattered 
over the northern part of Manhattan Island, there being- no 
church above the line of Fiftieth Street, where the Church 
of St. John the Evangelist remained as an outpost of the 
advancing city. Many remember a French gentleman re- 
siding in Manhattanville, who, in the days of Bishop 
Du Bois, used to be seen making his way on foot to the 
Cathedral, with one of his children on his shoulder and 
the other by his side. 

Yet the Catholic body had increased, and many res- 
idents of means had settled in and around Manhattan- 
ville ; among others, Andrew Camgan, Terence Donnelly, 
and Daniel Devlin. These and many others urged the 
erection of a church near the shores of the Hudson, and 
on the 28th of October, 1852, the Most Reverend Arch- 
bishop confided to an energetic young priest, the Rev. 
Arthur J. Donnelly, the district north of One Hundi'edth 
Street and west of Eighth Avenue as his parish. 



166 CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 

The Brothers of tlie Clu'Istian Schools had resolved 
to establish a college in the northern part of the island, 
and had selected this very district as most suitable for 
their purpose. The Rev. Mr. Donnelly resolved to act 
in conjunction with them, and, guided by the advice of 
the gentlemen already named, who, as large landliolders, 
were conversant with the advantages and value of prop- 
erty, the Christian Brothers and the new pastor pm-- 
chased, at the rate of four hundred dollars a lot, the 
two gore blocks bounded by One Hundred and Thirty- 
first Street and One Hundi'ed and Thirty-third Street, 
Broadway and the Boulevard, then styled Eleventh Avenue 

As the Christian Brothers gave Rev. Mr. Donnelly 
the choice of such portion as he deemed necessary for 
the proposed church, he selected six lots on the corner 
of Broadway and One Hundred and Thirty-first Street. 
A huge mass of rock, containing more than tlu-ee hundred 
cubic feet, towered high above the street, which cost 
months of toil and blasting to remove, in order to pre- 
pare the site for the new church. 

To collect his flock till the projected edifice was 
erected, the Rev, Mr. Donnelly adapted for his pm-poses 
an old two-story frame dwelling standing on the line of 
the unopened Eleventh Avenue. It was only some tliirty 
feet square, but by extending the sides by sheds, and 
opening the building through to the roof, a temporary 
chapel of moderate demensions was obtained. 



CHUKOH OF THE ANNUNCIATION. 167 

Here, on Passion Sunday, 1853, the Holy Sacrifice was 
offered for the first time in the parish. 

The site of the new church was at last ready, the 
foundation was begun, and everything was in readiness 
for the rehgious ceremonial of laying the corner-stone. 
To give greater solemnity to the occasion. Archbishop 
Cajetan Bedini, the first envoy from the Holy See to this 
country, kindly consented to officiate in the rites. A pro- 
cession moved from the residence of the pastor to the 
newly begun Church of the Annunciation of Our Lady. 
On Sunday, November 27th, 1853, the venerable represen- 
tative of his Holiness, in mitre and cope, with the crosier 
of his holy office, moved solemnly on, surrounded by a 
guard of honor from St. Stephen's Church, and by the 
clergy and faithful, whose zeal and devotion compensated, 
in some degree, for the martyrdom he endured in this 
republic from his infidel countrymen and their American 
dupes. On reaching the platform erected for the cere- 
mony, he blessed the water, and proceeded around the 
walls of the new church, dedicating the future edifice for 
the service of God. He then laid the corner-stone, hav- 
ing deposited beneath it an inscribed parchment record 
of the act, and other articles commemorative of the happy 
occasion. An eloquent sermon was then delivered by the 
Rev. Dr. Jeremiah W. Cummings. 

" There is a contrast," said he, '' between the simple 
evidence of the work, which, up to the present, stands before 



168 CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 

your eyes, and the magnificence of the rites with which 
it is blessed; but it is generally observed that the great- 
est results are obtained from the smallest beginnings ; the 
greatest powers are not those whose first manifestations 
are the most striking. The noise of powder exploding, 
which is often heard in this neighborhood while the rocks 
are being removed — which divide one arm of the old 
Hudson from the other — this noise startles the whole 
neighborhood and attracts the notice of all ; yet how great 
was the power that patiently, so to speak, gradually, 
time after time, and part after part, piled up that mass 
of rock which is before you, on the other side of the 
church ! And yet it was not attended with any noise — 
with any outward manifestation of its progress. You read 
its power in the immense results which have been brought 
about by it. So it will be — so let us all pray it may 
be — with this Church of Manhattanville, which now has 
progressed only a little, but which, let us hope, will 
arise and tower up in time, so that the attention of the 
passer-by may be attracted to it from a distance, and 
his admiration be excited and aroused as he nears the 
sacred building, and as he goes on his way, leaving it 
behind him. ... It is consoling for you to know 
that in the eye of God, and in the eye of the Church, 
your work is looked upon with the same respect, the 
same admiration, the same veneration, as all the greater 
works of your brethren in the faith, of whose under- 



CHUECH OF THE ANNUNCIATION. 169 

takings in other lands you are daily informed. Yet even 
the representative of the Holy Father, who has so often 
g-azed upon the lofty walls of St. Peter's, knows there 
is no difference between the simple altar which will be 
here in this place and the magnificent structure in Rome 
at which mass is celebrated. He has seen the Father 
of the Faithful engaged in offering up the Sacrifice of 
Atonement; and he, also, in different times, has cele- 
brated the Holy Sacrifice within the sacred walls of that 
holy building. And yet the interest he feels in his heart 
in seeing what you are engaged in, is the same as what 
he feels there, so far as faith is concerned. Do not 
believe that in making these remarks I mean to say 
the work in which you are engaged is not a noble 
one, for I am informed that it will be larger than the 
usual size of Catholic churches in the City of New York ; 
and I am sure it will not only be an honor to you 
but to the whole island. But the works of man, what- 
ever they may be, are acceptable to Almighty God 
only when offered in a proper spirit. . • „ There 
are men probably present who remember to have gone 
on a journey to E,ev. Mr. Power of St. Peter's Church, 
when Cliristian consolation was wanted in such a place 
as Manhattanville. And since that time how much has 
been done in the increase of the city ! How much has 
been done for the increase of the number of those 
belonging to our religion, and of the churches in which 



170 CATHOLIC CHURCHES OP NEW YORK. 

we may worship ! But while we are surrounded by 
temporal blessings, which go on increasing, we must 
not forget the benefits which have been showered on us 
by Him who is the Giver of all good gifts. 
Show your gratitude to God by offering at His shi-ine 
a portion of your goods from time to time. Stand by 
your pastor, and do not desert him. Do not let jonr 
zeal cool until the building which you have begun has 
been completed — until your friends and yourselves will 
be gathered here again, not to witness the laying of a 
corner-stone, but to witness its dedication to the worship 
of Almighty God." 

At the close of the address the Nuncio gave his 
benediction, and the vast assemblage departed. 

Standing among the crowd who witnessed the cere- 
mony, with his head uncovered from its commencement 
to its close, notwithstanding the bleak Avind of November 
that was blowing, was the venerable form of Thomas 
O'Conor, one of the earliest pioneers of the Catholic 
press in America — an author of no slight repvite among 
us — whose recollection carried him back to the time when 
the old St. Peter's Church was the only slu'ine of Cath- 
olicity on the whole of Manhattan Island. 

His illustrious son Charles O'Conor is a striking 
figure not in the city only, but in the country ; but his 
venerable father long held in the affections of the Cath- 
olics of New York a place that ought not to be forgotten. 



CHURCH OF THE ANNUNCIATION. 171 

The church was to be another tribute of the love 
of the people to the Blessed Virgin. Besides the church 
dedicated to her as St. Mary, there is a church to honor 
the special privilege by which she was preserved from 
the taint of original sin in her immaculate conception ; 
and this church was to honor the mystery of the In- 
carnation, when the archangel Gabriel announced to her 
that she was to be the mother of the Messias, whom 
the patriarchs had longed to see and behold. It was to 
be like a perpetual Angelus announcing that "the Word 
was made flesh." 

By the exertions and sacrifices of the pastor, the 
church was at last completed in the winter of 1854 — a 
beautiful structure in its picturesque position on the hill- 
side fronting the Bloomingdale Road, now Broadway. It 
was solemnly dedicated, in the winter of 1854, by the 
Very Rev. William Starrs, Vicar General of the Diocese, 
the Archbishop being then absent in Europe. The sermon 
on the occasion was delivered by the Rev. J. Murray 
Forbes,' who, taking as his text, " Behold, from henceforth 
all generations shall call me blessed," showed how reason- 
able and how consoling to the Christian heart was the 
devotion paid by the Church to the Blessed Virgin. 

The church is fifty-seven feet in width by ninety in 
depth, of the ancient Gothic style, solidly built of brick 
trimmed and pointed with stone facings. When completed, 
it cost about §25,000 ; and all this was paid except about 



172 CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 

$10,000. It had some liberal benefactors. The chancel 
windows were the gift of Charles M. Connolly, Esq. 
"When the Church of the Annunciation was erected, the 
grades of the streets had not been definitively settled, 
and in opening the Boulevard so much was cut away 
that the sacred edifice now stands on an eminence tower- 
ing high in air. Its architecture, plain and almost stern, 
inspires a kind of awe ; but as you enter, the mellow light 
tlu'ough the stained glass at the sides and in the chan- 
cel, through pictured evangelists, gives a holy calm. In 
the lancet-shaped apsis stands the beautiful altar, with a 
painting of the Annunciation and another of the Immacu- 
late Conception. Within the rail, just at the edge of the 
recess, are altars of the Blessed Virgin and St. Joseph ; 
and to the right, at the extremity of the aisle, is a Chapel 
of the Sacred Heart, exquisite in taste. 

Among the prominent pew-holders were Dr. Levi 
Silliman Ives, who laid down at the feet of the successor 
of St. Peter the insignia of his position as Bishop of 
North Carolina in the Protestant Episcopal Church, and 
his wife, a daughter of Bishop Hobart, once bishop of the 
same church in Ne\v York, who wavered under the argu- 
ments of Bishop Connolly, but never embraced the faith. 

The Christian Brothers carried out their plan, and 
on the ground retained by them erected Manhattan Col- 
lege, one of the most thriving and good-doing of our 
Catholic literary institutions. 



CHURCH OF THE ANNUNCIATION. 173 

The Rev. Mr. Donnelly was succeeded in tlie charge 
of the church by the Rev. F. H. Fan-elly, now pastor 
of St. James', who for four years labored efficiently in 
this parish. It was under the pastoral care of the Rev. 
John Breen for thirteen years, until his death, February 
18, 1873. 

This zealous pastor, who, dying at the age of fifty, 
was one of the oldest laborers in the -sdneyard of New 
York diocese, was a native of Ireland, trained for the 
service of God's altar in the solid and thorough course 
of Maynooth; coming to this country to labor among 
the wonderfully increasing fold of Catholics, who seemed 
to arise as if by enchantment in all parts of the vast 
American continent. 

His first mission duties were discharged in the Diocese 
of Cliicago ; then he was identified with the Church of 
the Annunciation, laboring earnestly in a parish extend- 
ing from Fifty-ninth Street to Spuyten Duyvil. In the 
cause of education he was deeply interested, and not 
only established schools for his own parish, but was for 
eight or nine years one of the professors in Manhattan 
College. 

On his decease the Most Reverend Archbishop plac^ 
the faithful of Annunciation parish under the pastoral 
care of the Rev. Jeremiah J. Griffin. 

The chiu'ch has excellent facilities for its parochial 
schools ; it is in the immediate vicinity of the Convent 



174 CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 

of tlie Ladies of the Sacred Heart, and Manhattan Col- 
lege. Some of the Brothers of the Christian Schools 
from the latter institution direct the boys' school of An- 
nunciation parish, numbering- three hundred and twenty, 
while three hundred and seventy girls attend a school 
where they are taught by Ladies of the Sacred Heart. 
The great advantages thus afforded to all classes in this 
parish for the Christian and Catholic education of their 
children are incalculable. The poorest can give their 
young a thorough religious training in the parochial 
schools of the church. To those who can and will enrich 
the minds of then* offspring with the highest literary cul- 
ture, Manhattan College, and the Academy of the Ladies 
of the Sacred Heart, within their very parish, offer ad- 
vantages of the highest order. 

The parish of the Annunciation can scarcely fail to 
show, as years go on, the result of all these advan- 
tages now enjoyed. It shows its religious life in its Altar 
Society, Society of the Holy Rosary, Confraternity of the 
Sacred Heart, its Sodality of the Children of Mary, and 
Young Men's Sodality, as well as in its benevolent organ- 
izations — the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, and the 
Sewing Society for the Relief of the Poor. 

The Sunday-school is well organized, numbering three 
hundred pupils, with a library of five hundred well-selected 
volumes. 




■e-i-&'^^^^t^7i^ 



CHURCH OF THE ANNUNCIATION. I75 



REV. JEEEMIAH J. GRIFFm, 

PASTOE OF THE CHURCH OF THE ANNUNCIATION. 



THE present pastor of the Church of the Annun- 
ciation was bom in Newcastle, County Limerick, 
Ireland, in March, 1839, and came with his family to 
this country when only in his tenth year. After some 
years' preliminary study he was sent to Mount St. Mary's 
College, at Emmettsburg, Maryland, in 1856 ; and having 
resolved to devote his life to God's service, was soon 
enrolled among the seminarians in that school of the 
clergy. 

At the conclusion of his theological course he was 
ordained by Archbishop McCloskey, at St. Patrick's Cathe- 
dral, on the 30th of September, 1865, 

He has since been constantly engaged in laborious 
parochial duty. The young priest's first position was 
that of assistant at the Church of the Nativity, and 
after fulfilling his duties acceptably there for tln-ee years, 
he was removed to the more onerous duties of assistant 
at St. Stephen's Church, where he remained for three 
years more. 

The ability displayed- by him in these positions in 
the city mission led to his appomtment, in 1872, to the 



176 CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 

Church of the Assumption, at Peekskill. Here he dis- 
played the same zeal and devotion to his sacred calling, 
and when the pastorship of the Church of the Annun- 
ciation, at Manhattanville, became vacant by the death 
of the reverend gentleman who had for many years 
guided the flock, the Archbishop promoted the Rev. Mr. 
Griffin to this church, in April, 1873. Here his zeal has 
been unremitting, and his Eminence the Cardinal, on 
his visitation for confirmation, paid a merited tribute to 
the pastor and the church. His assistant is the Rev. J 
M. Grady. 




CHURCH OF SAINT ANTHONY. 

12 SULLIVAN STREET. 



CHURCH OF SAINT ANTHONY OF PADUA. 

SULLIVAN STREET. 



THERE can be little doubt but that the Catholic 
navigator Gomez, at the close of the first quarter 
of the sixteenth century, entered our harbor on the feast 
of the great Franciscan, St. Anthony of Padua ; and, 
himself a Portuguese, felt especial devotion to that glory 
of his native land. We draw this conclusion from the 
fact that other coast names are those of summer feasts, 
and in the name of St. Anthony applied to our noble 
Hudson, we see the first dedication to that great saint. 

No church, however, l^ore his name until the year 
1859, when a zealous Italian priest was touched by the 
condition of his poor countrymen in New York. Many 
of these, having none to address them in their native tongue, 
had fallen into utter neglect of their religious duties, 
while the revolutionary element, full of hatred of religion 
and the priesthood, did all in their j^ower to weaken the 
pious impressions of early training ; and the devoui'ing J 

wolves of religious proselytism, who cared little for the 
temporal or eternal future of their victims, so that they 
lured them from Rome, strained every nerve and laAnshed 
money to seduce the poor Italians from their faith. 



CHURCH OF ST. ANTHONY OF PADUA. 179 

Rev. Mr. Sanguinetti obtained a lease of the cliurcli 
building- in Canal Street Avhicli had been used by the 
congregation of St. Vincent de Paul, and with the sanc- 
tion and encouragement of the Most Reverend Archbishop 
began to collect his scattered countrymen and endeavored 
to revive piety and devotion among them. His labors 
were for from fruitless ; but difficulties arose, and the spirit 
of evil was not so easily driven from a field that he 
claimed. The good priest, after struggling for more than 
a year, lost heart, and, thoroughly discouraged, abandoned 
the mission which he had undertaken. 

But the Church of St. Anthony of Padua was not 
to be merelv a name. The wants of the Italians had 
become evident, and many among them were not dis- 
posed to let the project fail. The Most Reverend Arch- 
bishop mentioned his difficulty to the Very Rev. Pamtilo 
da Mao'liano, then Provincial of the Franciscans at Alle- 
gheny. Nothing could be more consoling to that excel- 
lent religious man, and he gladly undertook to establish 
a church for his countrymen. The Re^'. Leo Pacilio, an 
accomplished Neapolitan priest, was sent to commence the 
good work. 

Selecting a portion of the city where no Catholic 
chui'ch existed, he looked for a suitable building. Pru- 
dence suggested economy, and finding in Sullivan Street 
a Methodist cluu-ch on leasehold property that could be 
acquired on reasonable terms, he secured it, and soon 



180 CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 

fitted it up for tlie use of the Italian congregation whom 
he gathered. 

The church was solemnly dedicated on the 10th day 
of April, 1866, by the Most Reverend Archbishop, now 
Cardinal McCloskey, assisted by the Very Eev. William 
Starrs, V.G. ; and the Rev. Francis McNeirny, secretary. 
After the usual ceremonies setting apart this building 
for the service of the Church, the altar was adorned, and 
a Solemn High Mass celebrated by the Very Rev. Pam- 
filo da Magliano, Father Leo da Saracena as deacon, and 
Father Andrew Pfeiffer as subdeacon. The Most Reverend 
Archbishop preached the dedicatory sermon; and after the 
Post Communion, the pastor. Rev. Leo Pacilio, returned 
thanks to the Archbishop in Italian, expressing the grati- 
tude of his flock. In the evening, at vespers, the Rt. 
Rev. Bishop Ljoich of Charleston gave benediction, and 
an Italian sermon was delivered by the learned Dr. De 
Concilio of Jersey City. 

The Fathers at first took up their abode in part of 
the building, which they found arranged so as to be 
adapted to the purpose, and zealously began their labors. 
When the success of St. Anthony's was no longer in 
doubt, a more convenient residence was obtained. The 
Italians soon found their way fi-om all parts to the 
new church, and benefited by the ministrations of the 
Franciscans. 

Father Leo was succeeded by F, Joachim Guerrini. 



CHURCH OF ST. ANTHONY OF PADUA. 181 

The convent was then for some years the residence of 
the Provincial of the Order in this country. The Very 
E.ev. James Titta, who was attached to the church from 
1871, remained when made Provincial, and after the con- 
clusion of his term. He was a native of Gombitelli, and 
after his ordination in 1854 belonged to the choir of the 
Lateran Basilica. He died Guardian of the Convent and 
pastor of St. Anthony's, March 11, 1877, highly esteemed 
by the flock which he had directed, now embracing not 
only Italians but many English-speaking Catholics, who 
have learned to appreciate the sons of St. Francis of 
Assisi. 

The present Guardian of the Convent and pastor of 
the church is the E,ev. Father Anacletus, O.S.F. 

Such is, in brief, the history of the church dedicated 
to the great Franciscan saint, in whose honor Father 
Louis Hennepin, two centuries ago, named the cataract 
on the Upper Mississippi, still known as the Falls of St. 
Anthony ; and in whose honor the Spanish Franciscans 
soon after named a mission in Texas, which has now 
become an episcopal see. 

He is called of Padua, because that city was the 
chief scene of his labors ; but he was a native of Lis- 
bon, the capital of Portugal. He was born in 1195, 
and christened Ferdinand. He first entered a community 
of Canons Regular, but was attracted to the Franciscans 
by their zeal, poverty, and heroism in the foreign mis- 



182 CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 

(sions. Entering among them, he took the name of An- 
thony, and was sent to Africa; but forced by ill health 
to leave, the vessel in which he embarked was driven to 
Sicily. In Italy he had the happiness of seeing St. 
Francis himself, but, concealing all his gifts and learning, 
took the humblest duties in the house, until one day his 
superior ordered him to address the community and some 
Dominicans who were stopping with them. His eloquence, 
learning and unction amazed all present. St. Francis, 
learning his ability and piety, sent him to Vercelli to 
complete his studies and then to teach theology, which 
he did for many years in various cities. But he longed 
to become a missionary preacher. When he was per- 
mitted to begin, he converted the most obstinate heretics 
and the most hardened sinners, and preached in France, 
Spain and Italy with wonderful success, God approving 
his Avork by miracles, and giving him in the confes- 
sional supernatural wisdom and prudence. His words 
brought the tyrant Ezzelino in tears a penitent at his 
feet. He died June 13th, 1231, at the early age of 
thirty-six. The miracles wrought in his life and after 
death were so extraordinary that he Avas almost immedi- 
ately canonized, and was honored throughout all parts 
of Europe long before the discovery of America. The 
Franciscan missionaries, pioneers of the faith in the New 
World, bore the devotion with them from the snows of 
Canada to the banks of the La Plata. 



CHURCH OF ST. ANTHONY OF PADUA. 183 

The Fathers at our New York church neglect no 
means to diffuse piety among- their flock. The Society 
of St. Vincent de Paid, so zealous in relieving the poor, 
is well established ; and there is also the Italian Benev- 
olent Society of St. Anthony. They have organized 
rosary and temperance societies for both English and 
Italian-speaking Catholics, with the Children of Mary, 
and a Sodality of the Holy Angels, and a Society of 
the Sacred Heart. 

The Franciscans have a Third Order, for persons of 
both sexes living in the world, but following to some 
extent the rule of St. Francis. There are Tertiaries con- 
nected with this church, and also the Confraternit}^ of 
the Cord of St. Francis. 

Education has received special care. The late Father 
James Titta bought a suitable building and established 
a parish school, in which English and Italian are taught; 
the boys by lay teachers, the girls by the Missionary 
Sisters of the Tliird Order of St. Francis. 

The field open for the labors of the Fathers of the 
Church of St. Anthony is one that day by day increases. 
Under the old rule in Italy, living was low ; and in no 
part of the world perhaps was there a more contented 
population. 

The dream of Italian unity has been realized, and 
it has resulted in a profligate and expensive court, a 
civil administration reckless of expense, a standing army 



184 



CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 



that takes nearly a million of men, in the prime of life, 
from the pursuits of industry, and compels the rest of 
the community to support them. 

The seizure of church property and its sale did little 
to fill the exchequer, drained by the new outlays. Taxes 
were multiplied, and many small cultivators were forced 
to abandon the lands held by their ancestors for cen- 
turies. New Italy drove her childi-en by the thousands 
from her shores, to seek a livelihood in other lands. The 
emigration to America took a rapid development, and 
with the worthy and industrious came, of course, many 
whose evil courses made them gladly seek a change. 
The City of New York, the natural centre of immigration, 
has received Italians by thousands, so that they are now 
found in all branches of trade and labor, the unskilled 
taking in many cases the Work on railroads and other 
improvements, which was formerly almost exclusively per- 
formed by the stalwart men from Ireland. 

These emigrants, in a new and strange country, with 
none of the influence of their parish priest or religious — 
their quiet rural homes exchanged for city tenements — 
were exposed to a loss of faith. 

It will thus be seen that the Church of St. Anthony 
of Padua, being the only one in the city devoted exclu- 
sively to the care of the spiritual interests of the Italian 
residents, has an immense work. 






^^^. ^ 



CHUECH OF ST. ANTHONY OF PADUA. 185 



REV. FATHER ANACLETUS da ROCCAGORGA, O.S.F., 



PASTOR OF THE CHUECH OF ST. ANTHONY OF PADUA. 



THE present Guardian of the Convent and pastor 
of tlie Church of St. Anthony of Padua, the Rev. 
Father Anacletus, is a member of the Reformed Francis- 
cans or Recollects, who commenced their labors in this 
State in the year 1855, and for several years past have 
conducted a flourishing college at Allegany, and missions 
in various parts of the country. They thus revived the 
holy memories of the Franciscan missionaries of the French 
and Spanish colonial period, when they were the first 
missionaries in Canada, New Mexico, Texas, and Upper 
California, and reddened Florida with the blood of their 
martyrs. 

Father Anacletus was born on the 2d of June, 1836, 
at Roccagorga, a town in the Pontifical States, and was 
baptized two days after, by the name of Anthony ]\Iary, 
his family name being De Angelis. 

His early piety led liim to serve frequently as a 
boy at the altar, and at the age of eighteen he renounced 
the world to enter the Franciscan Order at Rome. There 
he read philosophy for tln-ee years, and came to tliis 
country December 3d, 1865, to join the American Pro- 



18G 



CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 



vince of his order. He lias labored zealously in various 
missions, doing- without ostentation the priestly duties in the 
convents and churches under the care of his community. 

His merit was soon recognized by his superiors and 
his brethren, and he was placed in j)ositions of responsi- 
bility, requiring- not only zeal and piety, but that admin- 
istrative ability which is not g-iven to all. 

He was made Gruardian of the Convent and College 
at Allegany, New York, the princij^al house of the Friars 
Minors of the Reform in America. He then was ap- 
pointed to the same position in the convent of his order 
at Winsted, Connecticut ; and subsequently was made 
Guardian of the Convent and pastor of St. Patrick's 
Church in the City of Buffalo. 

He has, it will be seen, been in several dioceses, and 
has in all won the esteem of the Right Reverend Bishops. 

He has been for some years connected with the 
Church of St. Anthony in this city, and, on the death 
of the lamented Father Titta, Avas made Guardian of the 
Convent and pastor of the church. 

His experience in the monastery, his knowledge of 
the wants of his countrymen in America, with his zeal 
and ability, give the hope that his ministry in New York 
City will be a fruitful one. 

His associates in 1878 are Father Leonard P. Mc- 
Kernan, O.S.F., Father Camillus da Motefegatese, O.S.F., 
and Father Julius da Arpino, O.S.F. 



CHURCH OF ST. ANTHONY OF PADUA. 



187 



R 



OLL OF 



H 



ONOR. 



Beck, Adolph. 
Bogan, Thomas. 
Brosnan, Daniel M. 
Brown, Thomas, Mrs. 
Carvey, Patrick. 
Cavanagh, James F. 
Cloke, James. 
Cody, Tobias. 
Connors, Michael. 
Conway, Annie, Mrs. 
Crowley, Dennis. 
Daly, Jane, Mrs. 
Daly, John B. 
Devaney, Patrick. 
Donlin, P. E. 
Downey, John, Mrs. 
Duffy, Bernard, 
Dwyer, Timothy. 
Eagan, Michael. 
Eagleton, Thomas. 
Egan, Maria. 
Eustace, Richard. 
Ferguson, Dennis G. 
Finn, Patrick J. 
Fitzimmons, Felix. 
Flynn, Catharine. 
Frost, John. 
Gallagher, John. 
Garry, Michael J. 
Garvey, Michael. 
Gillooly, Patrick K. 
Gleason, Patrick. 



Hassett, Thomas H. 
Haight, William A. 
Healey, Edward. 
Ileffernan, James. 
Hickey, Patrick. 
Higgins, Patrick. 
Holland, Philip. 
Hughes, Henry. 
Hurley, Edward, 
Kane, William James. 
Kelly, Dudley. 
Kelly, Edward. 
Kelly, James J. 
Kennelly, Patrick. 
Lawless, William. 
Lynch, Maggie. 
Lynch, Patrick. 
McCormick, Richard. 
McCullough, Daniel. 
McDermott, John. 
McDonnell, Charles. 
McEntee, James. 
McGinn, John. 
McGrath, John. 
McKenna, Bernard. 
McKernan, M. F., Mrs. 
McNabb, Catharine, Mrs. 
Madigan, Michael. 
Manning, James J. 
Meagher, John. 
Meagher, Joseph. 
Monahan, Michael. 



Morton, Caroline, Mrs. 
Nash, P. H. 
Nicholson, Mary, Mrs. 
Nolan, Catharine, Mrs. 
Nugent, H. 
O'Brien, James. 
O'Connor, John. 
O'Connor, Samuel. 
O'Connor, Thomas. 
O'Day, John. 
O'Rorke, B. 
Rathe, Julia, Mrs. 
Reilly, Hugh, 
Reilly, Philip. 
Rogers, Joseph. 
Rouse, Katie. 
Ryan, John LI. 
Sanders, John. 
Scannell, John. 
Selveira, Jos, W. M., Mrs. 
Sharkey, Martin. 
Shorten, Patrick. 
Sinnott, Matthew. 
Smith, Margaret, Miss. 
Smith, Patrick. 
Tobin, John J. 
Walsh, John. 
Walsh, John, Mrs. 
Walsh, Michael. 
Ward, James J. 
Ward, John. 
White, John. 




CHURCH OF THE ASSUMPTION 

WEST FORTY-NINTH STREET. 



CHURCH OF THE ASSUMPTION OF THE 
BLESSED VIRGIN MARY. 

FOETY-NINTH STEEET. 



TOWARDS the year 1858, the increase of the Ger- 
man CathoHc population on the western side of 
the city seemed to require greater accommodations than 
were afforded, by the churches of St. Jolm the Baptist 
and St. Francis Seraph. The Rev. A. Krasny, T^dth 
the encouragement and by the appointment of his Grace 
Archbishop McCloskey, took steps to organize a new 
congregation. He found the faithful ready to co-operate 
with him. A lease was obtained of a lot on the south- 
east corner of Ninth Avenue and Fiftieth Street, and on 
this a plain but substantial frame building was erected, 
and dedicated by the Very Rev. William StaiTs, Yicar 
General, in April, 1858, as the temporary Chm-ch of the 
Assumption. He preached on the occasion in English, 
and a sermon in the language of the congregation was 
delivered at the mass. 

Soon after, three lots were purchased in Forty-ninth 
Street, between Ninth and Tenth Avenues, for the pur- 
pose of erecting a more substantial church, to accommo- 
date the constantly increasing flock. The corner-stone 



100 CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 

of tlie new Cliurcli of the Assumption was laid by the 
Most Rev. Archbishop McCloskey, on Sunday, the first 
day of May, 1859. Societies connected Avith the Chm-ch 
of the Most Holy Redeemer, St. Francis Seraph, St. 
Francis Xavier, St. John's, and the Society of St. Vin- 
cent de Paul, marched to the spot. The Archbishop, 
attended by the Rev. Francis McNeirn}^, the Very Rev. 
W. Brouillet, V.G., and a number of other clergymen, 
performed the ceremony as laid down in the ritual ; 
and after blessing- the corner-stone, returned to the deco- 
rated platform, where he delivered one of those happy 
and touching addresses Avhich sink into the heart. Tak- 
ing as his text the words of the Psalm, " Unless the 
Lord build the house, they labor in vain who build 
it," he said : " These words are taken from the service 
used in blessing the corner-stone of a Catholic church, 
because it is the corner-stone, and because the Avords 
of the royal prophet, ' Unless the Lord build the house, 
they labor in vain AAdio build it,' are the corner-stone 
of all true religion. There are two foundations, then, 
one of which is a material stone, and the other a cor- 
ner-stone of faith in Clu-ist. To this last I call your 
attention ; for CA'ery prayer and chant and ceremon}' 
connected Avith blessing the corner-stone of the church 
A\diich is to rise on this ground, is connected Avith that 
higher Chm*ch and Tabernacle to Avhich aa^c are all in- 
vited. The prayers are for the perpetuity of the faith, 



CHURCH OF THE ASSUMPTION. 191 

the charity and love, and the purity of heart of those 
who shall enter this building and receive the sacraments 
at the altar, Avhich is to be where I now stand. The 
purpose for which the church is to be erected is to 
echo and re-echo, from age to age, that l)lessed truth 
which the Son of Grod communicated to the world, and 
declared should remain for all time. The church is 
erected for the administration of the sacraments. The 
idea of a Catholic chnrch is not for learned men to 
mount a rostrum and declare their own ideas to the 
people. No ! they were to speak the truth, and not 
give opinions ; for Jesus Christ never gave opinions." 

He congratulated the Glerman Catholics on their zeal, 
and urged them to persevere to the completion of their 
projected church. Tlie building of the new church went 
on rapidly, and a fine brick edifice, with a lofty steeple, 
the caps and trimming-s of durable brown stone, attested 
to all who visited that part of the city, the zeal and 
taste of the congregation. 

When this new church was dedicated and opened for 
service, the temporary church on Ninth Avenue was sold. 
The church was for many years under the pastoral care 
of the ReVo Benedict Stroehle, who was succeeded in the 
year 1876 by the Rev. A. Schwenniger. 

From an earl}^ period in the annals of this church 
we find care given to the Christian education of the young. 
Towards the close of Rev. Mr. Stroehle's pastoral relations. 



192 CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK.' 


several lots 


were pm-chased on Fiftieth Street, in the rear 1 


of tlie churcli, and a very fine brick school-house erected .1 


at a cost of about twenty-five thousand 


dollars. The . 1 


•schools are 


attended by about four hundred and fifty 1 


pupils of both sexes, who are instructed in all the com- 1 


mon school 


branches by eleven School Sisters of Notre 1 


Dame and some lay teachers. 




The congregation numbers about five 


thousand souls, 


and the annual baptisms about three hundred. 


• 


Roll of Honor. 




CHURCH OF THE ASSUMPTION. 




Ackerman, Carl. 


Foersch, Caspar. Kessler, Adolph. 


Olwerter, George. 


Ackerman, John. 


Foersch, Joseph. Kinake, J. F. 


Orth, George. 


Albert, Peter. 


Friedrick, Carl. Kirchof, John. 


Ostermann, Mrs. 


Amberg, John. 


Frish, John. Kirchhoefer, George. 


Panzer, Joseph. 


Balk, Apollonia. 


Froehrenbach, Peter. Koch, Edward. 


Pfeiffer, John G. 


Baumann, Edward. 


Frost, Matthew. Koester, Hermann. 


Reichwein, Joseph. 


Baumel, John. 


Fuchs, Attila. Krug, Christina. 


Reitwiesner, John. 


Bechner, Joseph. 


Gebhardt, Anna. Knorr, Morris. 


Renz, Frank. 


Berneziser, Mrs. 


Gerdes, Clemens. Lambert, Margaret. 


Roose, D. A. 


Beyer, John. 


Graf, Theodore. Lang, Dorothea. 


Roesner, John. 


Biegen, Frank. 


Grau, John. Latour, Peter. 


Rottper, Joseph. 


Bolle, Frank. 


Gross, Anton. Lauterbacher, Alois. 


Rudloff, Jacob. 


Brehm, Anna. 


Gross, John. Loehr, Barbara. 


Ruprecht, Thomas. 


Breitenbach, A. 


Grundner, John. Loehr, John. 


Saum, Edward. 


Brex, John. 


Habermann, Michael. Maling, Philip. 


Schaefer, Sebastian. 


Brunner, Peter. 


Hachenfurth, Mrs. Mansing, Henry. 


Scheidler, Joseph. 


Bueffel, Jacob. 


Haeckel, Conrad. Mark, George. 


Schindler, Michael. 


Burger, Joseph. 


Haeckel, Michael. Martin, Bernhard. 


Schmoeller, Louis. 


Burkardt, Nicholas 


Hartmann, George. Marschall, Frank. 


Schneider, Matthew. 


Dettinger, Andrew 


Heil, George. Mehl, Conrad. 


Schramm, Stephen. 


Diebold, George. 


Heimbuch, W. Mrs. Mehlig, Frank. 


Schwarz, Adam. 


Diepenbach, A. 


Heiss, Dorothea. Mehlig, Henry. 


Senger, Martin. 


Dinselbacher, A. 


Hilbert, Anton. Meurer, George. 


SeuferHng, A. 


Duerr, Kunigunda. 


Hoev, Joseph. Messing, John. 


Simon, Josephine. 


Duenglemann, Ber 


ish. Jordan, Frank. Meyer, Conrad. 


Stehle, Mrs. 


Dux, August. 


Jordan, Frank, Jr. Meyer, George. 


.Stelz, John. 


Englert, August. 


Jordan, Joseph. Mink, Joseph. 


Trageser, Michael. 


Ewald, Andrew. 


Jordan, Philip. Muehlberger, Adam, 


Waas, George. 


Falk, Jacob. 


Kappler, Christian. Nicholas, John. 


Weber, Balthazar. 


rieckenstein, Geor 


je. Kemner, Joseph. Noll, Peter, 


Zucker, Margaret, 




C^L^ ' t^'^£^^i/-'i^-^C^^<^, 




CHUECH OF THE ASSUMPTION. 193 



REV. BEENARD ANTHONY SCHWENNIGER, 

PASTOR OF THE CHUECH OF THE ASSUMPTION'. 



THE Rev. Bernard A. Schweimiger was born at 
Selm, in Prussia, on the 23d of September, 1832, 
and after a tlioroug-li course of study, both Hterary and 
ecclesiastical, was ordained priest June 9, 1857. He came 
to the United States in January, 1866, and having been 
received by the Most Reverend Archbishop Purcell in 
the Diocese of Cincinnati, was appointed assistant to 
the Very Rev. Joseph Ferneding at the Church of St. 
Paul, in Cincinnati, and in 1870 was appointed to the 
new Church of St. Louis, on Eighth and Walnut Streets 
in that city. Here he remained as pastor till 1875, when 
he removed to the Diocese of New York, and was placed 
in the following year, by his Eminence Cardinal Mc- 
Closkey, in charge of the Church of the Assumption. 

The Rev. Mr. Schwenniger has aroused an earnest 
interest among his congregation, and placed the affairs of 
the parish on a most creditable footing. The schools 
thrive under his fostering care, and the congregation seem 
to act in the utmost harmony with their pastor. 
13 




CHURCH OF SAINT AUGUSTINE. 

ONE HUNDKED AND SEVENTIETH STREET, MORRISANIA. 



CHURCH OF SAINT AUGUSTINE. 

ONE HUNDRED AND SEVENTIETH STREET, NEAR FRANKLIN AVENUE, 

MOKRISANIA. 



A 



FEW years since a portion of Westchester County- 
was detached from it and united to the City 
of New York, This causes us to include among the city 
churches some which were formerly regarded as country 
parishes. Among these is the parish of St. Augustine, 
Morrisania. 

The Catholics in that part of Westchester County 
were attended from St. Paul's Church at Harlem, but in 
1855 the Rev. Stephen Ward was sent to establish a 
mission and erect a church, to afford the faithful greater 
advantages for the practice of their religious duties and 
the education of their children. There were many diffi- 
culties, but in 1858 he secured ground for a site, and 
prepared to erect a church after the designs of Mr. H. 
Engelbert, a skillful architect. It was to be of brick, 
with brown stone facings, and to be fifty-one feet by one 
hundred feet in length. 

The Most Reverend Archbishop Hughes laid the 
corner-stone on Sunday, the 12th of September, 1858, 
assisted by the Very Rev. William Starrs, V.G., Rev. 



196 CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 

Messrs. Brophy, Neligan, Brennan, Morrogh, and Fathers 
Schneider and Daubresse of the Society of Jesus; Rev. Mr. 
McNeirny acted as master of ceremonies. After the con- 
chision of the prescribed ritual, the Archbishop addressed 
the large audience joyfully gathered to witness the auspi- 
cious commencement. His text was from the first Epistle 
of St. Paul to Timothy, iv, 1: '' Now the Spirit manifestly 
saith that in the last times some shall depart from the 
faith, giving heed to spirits of error and doctrines of 
devils." He said that they had all come there to witness 
a ceremony — a religious ceremony — which would appear 
to many a new one. "It will be reported in the papers 
merely as a material ceremony, and the world cannot 
comprehend the use of such a one ; but we have the text 
of Scripture for it — the authority of the Holy Catholic 
Church. We all know that the first man and woman 
transgressed, and that the material world Avas cursed in 
consequence ; that the Son of God was sent to redeem 
the world, and that the Church has poAver to redeem 
some portion of this earth from this curse. The Church 
with her prayers has appointed tliis portion of ground 
to the worship of God. The sanctity of the prayers has 
taken the original malediction from this ground." 

Before he closed the Archbishop said that he wished 
to revive an old custom. He did not wish any collec- 
tion made among the people present, but wished to see 
them come up in order and lay their offerings on the 



CHURCH OF ST. AUGUSTINE. 



197 



corner-stone itself. He valued the custom much. The 
faithful, with the utmost order, responded, and as each 
passed the stone, he made it in some sense his own by 
his contribution. 

The church of Morrisania was thus begun under the 
invocation of the g-reat St. Augustine, Bishop of Hippo, 
the Doctor of the Church whose burning love for God 
is always symbolized in art b}^ a flaming heart. The 
oldest city in the United States has, for more than 
three centuries, borne the name of this great Father. 
Philadelphia had long possessed a church dedicated to 
his honor — a martyr church, burned for the faith preached 
within it. It was fitting that New York too should 
honor him. 

St. Augustine, Aurelius Augustinus, the son of Patrick 
and Monica, was born at Tagaste in 354. He was care- 
fully educated, but lost his innocence, and was seduced 
by the Manichean heretics. In vain his pious mother 
used tears an.d prayers. Her son seemed obdurate ; Heaven 
seemed to deprive him of the graces he had forfeited. 
While a brilliant professor of rhetoric, the moment of 
mercy came. He was moved by the preaching of St. 
Ambrose, was sincerely converted ; and, having received 
baptism in 387, he devoted himself to austerity and 
prayer. Having gone to Hippo, the Bishop Valerius 
ordained him priest. He so distinguished himself in con- 
founding the heretics that a council made him coadjutor 



198 CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 

to Valerius, and he died Bishop of Hippo, in 430. His 
" City of God," " Confessions," his " Commentaries," and 
other works, have been prized in every age of the 
Church. 

Under such powerful patronage, the Rev. Mr. Ward 
went bravely on, and in 1860 completed his church. It 
is in the Lombardo-Itahan style, with three entrances, 
and a spire 125 feet high. The aisles are twenty feet 
high, and the nave, separated from the aisles by octagon 
columns, has a false clerestory thirty feet high. The 
chancel is carried up the full height of the church, with 
octagonal ends, forming an apsis, the rich chancel arch 
being supported by large columns. There are two sacris- 
ties and an organ gallery across the west end. All the 
windows are of stained glass, presented by members of 
the congregation. In the windows over the altar you 
behold Our Lord and His Blessed Mother, while those 
on either side show the figures of St. Peter and the 
holy patron of the church, St. Augustine. .The Church 
is large enough to seat a thousand persons, and cost 
fifteen thousand dollars. 

Archbishop Hughes took great interest in St. Au- 
gustine's, but was prevented by illness from dedicating 
it to the service of God. That solemn ceremony was 
accordingly performed on the 30th of September, 1860, 
by the Rev. Francis McNeirny, now Bishop of Albany. 
When, by the rites of the Church, the building was thus 



CHURCH OF ST. AUGUSTINE. 199 

set apart for the worship of God, the altar was properly 
adorned and prepared for the offering of the Holy Sacri- 
fice. High Mass was celebrated by the Rev. Mr. McNeir- 
ny, and an eloquent sermon preached by the Rev. Thomas 
Mooney, pastor of St. Bridget's, whose choir volunteered 
their services on the interesting occasion. 

At the solemn vespers, the Archbishop was able to 
administer confirmation, which was thus conferred to a 
hundred and thirty children of the parish, the very day 
the church was dedicated. 

The Rev. Mr. Ward continued his labors among the 
flock whom he had gathered around the altar of St. 
Augustine, till his death, June 22, 1863, at the age of 
sixty-three. He was succeeded by a younger priest, the 
Rev. J. P. Woods, born and educated in New York, full 
of zeal, never sparing himself in labors for the good 
of his people. After being a faithful priest and father 
to his flock, he died prematurely, on the 20th of January, 
1875, broken down by his constant and holy toil. 

Seldom has a priest in so brief a career won not 
only the attachment of his flock but the respect of his 
fellow clergymen, by his constant devotion to his duties, 
his love for the beauty of the house of Grod, his care 
for the fitness of the music, where his admirable taste 
guided him, his patience with the erring, his compassion 
for the weak, his love for the poor. 

Though the Funeral Mass was celebrated at the 



200 CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 

Churcli of St. Vincent Ferrer, that house of God was 
crowded by the congregation of St. Augustine, who came 
from Morrisania to pay a last tribute to the good priest 
whose ministry they had enjoyed ; and the Altar Society 
placed at the head of the coffin a beautiful floral offering 
with the inscription, '^ To our beloved Pastor." 

The affection of the flock was not a blind rever- 
ence ; the attendance at his obsequies of no less than 
ninety priests, and the eulogy pronounced by the Rev, 
Dr. McGlynn, showed that the clergy at large honored 
him as one of their most exemplary members. 

Under the present pastor, the Rev. John McNamee, 
St. Augustine's has advanced rapidly, and holds a credit- 
able place among the chm-ches. 



CHUECH OF ST. AUGUSTINE. 201 



REV. JOHN J. McNAMEE, 

PASTOR OF THE CHURCH OF ST. AUGUSTINE. 



THE life of a priest on a laborious city mission 
is seldom marked hj great deeds. His triumphs 
are often enemies not seen; his victories, in wresting- 
souls from the spirits of evil, and the men who wit- 
tingly or unwittingly lend themselves to aid their work 
in defeating all that our Redeemer has done for the 
salvation of mankind. 

The priest who confronts pestilence or contagion — 
who sacrifices rest, health, life, to fly to the bedside of 
the Catholic, who perhaps, long estranged from God, calls 
on him for the sacraments he has neglected in health — 
finds and seeks no one to herald his labor. 

His consolation and liis triumphs are generally buried 
in the secret of his own heart. 

In the sketches here given we can profess to enter 
into no detail of this heroic career of the priest, but 
simply give the few facts of external life that meet the 
general eye. 

The present pastor of St. Augustine's Church was 
bom in the County Longford, Ireland, on the 12th of 
September, 1847. From his boyhood, his early Inclina- 



202 CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 

tion was evinced in unmistakable signs to be not for 
this world, but for the service of God. This vocation 
was not lost. He was educated for the priesthood in St. 
Mell's Seminary, Longford, and there made choice of 
America as the field in which he hoped to spend his 
priestlj career. Having come to this country in 1864, 
he entered the College of the Society of Jesus, at 
Worcester, Massachusetts, where he was graduated with 
honors in 1866. He immediately j)roceeded to St. Joseph's 
Seminary, in Troy, where, under the guidance of the 
excellent professors of that provincial school of the clergy, 
he completed his course of theology and other ecclesias- 
tical studies. On the 22d of May, 1869, he was pro- 
moted to the priesthood, receiving ordination from his 
Eminence Cardinal McCloskey, at that time Bishop of 
Albany. 

The first field assigned to the young priest was the 
position of assistant at St. Mary's Church, Clifton, Staten 
Island, where he remained till November, 1871. He was 
then called to St. Patrick's Cathedral, where he discharged 
the laborious duties of assistant till the 15th of Feb- 
ruary, 1875. 

The experience acquired under a venerable priest in 
a country parish was thus increased by experience as 
assistant at the Cathedral. On the death of the Eev. 
Mr. Woods, the Rev. Mr. McNamee was chosen pastor 
of the Church of St. Augustine. 



CHURCH OP ST. AUGUSTINE. 203 


R.OLL 


OF H 


.ONOR. 


i 

Bevgen, Margaret. 


Gavin, Frank. 


Monighan, William. 


Bradley, Mrs. 


Geraghty, Michael. 


Mooney, Edward. 


Bowes, J. 


Gilhgan, Henry. 


Morris, Hugh. 


Boyle, Neil, Mrs._ 


Gilligan, Mary. 


Mulhall, Mrs. 


Bracken, John Henry. 


Gilligan, Patrick. 


Mullaney, Mary. 


Brady, E. 


Gleeson, Michael. 


• Mullany, John. 


Brady, Thomas. 


Green, J. J. 


Murphy, John. 


Brian, James. 


Hanlon, James. 


Murray, Patrick. 


Brown, James. 


Hannon, P. C. 


Nagle, William. 


Browne, Edward. 


Haugh, George. 


Nailon, Edward. 


Bryan, M. 


Hawkins, Ellen. 


Kolan, P. 


Burgen, Adam. 


Hogan, J. C. 


O'Brien, Edward. 


Burns, Michael. 


Johnson, Jane, Mrs. 


O'Connor, John. 


Byrnes, Bernard. 


Johnson, John. 


O'Connor, Michael. 


Callighan, John. 


Keane, Mrs. 


O'Dell, Miss. 


Campbell, Hugh J. 


Kearney, Mrs. 


Oechs, E. 


Cannon, John. 


Kehoe, Edward. 


O'Hara, Patrick. 


Cantwell," Michael. 


Keiley, James. 


O'Leary, Margaret. 


Carpenter, Thomas. 


Kelly, Mary. 


O'Rourke, Miss. 


Cassidy, James. 


Kingston, John. 


O'TooIe, John P. 


Cassidy, Michael. 


Kingston, William. 


Pearl, John. 


Clark, John J. 


Kinsella, John. 


Perry , Flavins J. 


Condon, John. 


Kirby, John. 


Peters, John. 


Conors, E. 


Kuntz, W. J. 


Regan, Mrs. 


Cooney, Mary. 


Leahy, Mrs. 


Reilly, Mary. 


Corbett, James, Mrs. 


Lynch, J., Mrs. 


Rodney, E. Miss. 


Cornell, John. 


Lyons, Ann. 


Royce, Mrs. 


Coyne, Catharine. 


McAuliffe, Thomas. 


Seebor, John. 


Cullen, Thomas, Mrs. 


McCabe, Francis. 


Sheeian, Edward. 


Cunningham, Michael. 


McCarthy, Miss. 


Sheridan, Bridget. 


Dolan, Maggie. 


McDonnell, John. 


Shorn, J ohn. 


Donnelly, Patrick. 


McGough, llenry. 


Slavin, Patrick, Mrs. 


Doomen, Patrick. 


McGuire, Hugh. 


Smith, John. 


Dorland, Miss. 


Mcllman, John. 


Smith, Michael C. 


Doud, Thomas. 


McKenna, C. 


Stone, William. 


Drummond, Mrs. 


McKniff, James. 


Sullivan, Patrick. 


Duane, James. 


McMalion, Dennis. 


Tiernan, Edward. 


Duggan, P. 


McMahon, James. 


Tierney, Miss. 


Dunne, Eliza, Mrs. 


McMahon, John. 


Traynor, Owen. 


Egan, Mary. 


McMahon, William. 


Tuthill, E. 


English, Thomas. 


McNamara, E. 


Tyrell, John. 


Fagan, Patrick. 


McNulty, P. 


Wall, John. 


Farrell, James. 


McShane, Hugh. 


Walsh", Tohn. 


Ferrigan, Hugh. 


McWilhams, Catharine. Webb, Peter. | 


Finn, John. 


Mahoney, Andrew. 


Whelan, John. 


Fitzpatrick, Francis. 


Meeghan, Joseph. 


White, Mrs. 


Galvin, P. 


Melville, Rose. 


Woods, John. 




CHURCH OF SAINT BERNARD. 

WEST FOURTEENTH STREET. 



CHURCH OF SAINT BERNARD. 

WEST FOUETEENTH STEEET. 



THE last strains of the Salve Regina always call 
to mind the great St. Bernard, the glory of the 
Cistercian Order, and call to mind also one of the grand- 
est cathedrals of Em'ope, that of Spires ; for it was there 
that, as the monks receiving him chanted the Salve 
Regina, he added the words, "0 clement, pious, 
sweet Virgin Mary ! " 

Doctor by his learning, apostle by his heart-reaching 
sermons, combining the highest spiritual gifts with great 
activity and capacity for external affairs, St. Bernard is 
eminently a type for our times, a saint worthy of es- 
pecial patronage. 

The Fathers of the Church are not unhonored among 
us. St. Augustine, St. Jerome, St. Alphonsus are in- 
voked as holy patrons. St. Bernard, too, was to be 
added. 

In the year 1868, the Most Reverend Archbishop 
McCloskey deemed it necessary to lay off a new paro- 
chial district on the west side of the city in order to 
relieve the other churches. To organize the faithful, and 
in time erect a suitable church, he selected the Rev. 



206 CATHOLIC OHUECHES OF NEW YORK. 

Gabriel A. Healy, then assistant at St. Peter's Church. 
As a temporary chapel this clergyman purchased an old 
wagon factory on West Thirteenth Street, belonging to the 
Knickerbocker Ice Company, a building in a most wretched 
condition. It could, however, it was found, be restored 
so as to use for a chapel without danger. After making 
necessary repairs, the reverend pastor was enabled to fit 
up the second story as a chapel. 

It was opened on Whitsunday, May 31, 1868, when 
mass was for the first time celebrated. The parish was 
soon thoroughly animated with a life and spirit of its 
own ; the permanency of the new congregation was as- 
sured. The ground for a church worthy of our faith 
was selected, and the temporary chapel was accordingly 
dedicated with the solemn rites of the Church on the 
4th of April, 1869, by his Grace the Most Eev. Dr. 
McCloskey. After this consoling ceremony, a High Mass 
was celebrated by the Very Rev. William Starrs, Vicar 
General, with the Rev. William Quinn of St. Peter's as 
deacon, and the Rev. John Hughes as subdeacon. Rev. 
Francis McNeirny being master of ceremonies. A sermon 
was delivered by the Most Reverend Archbishop, and 
another in the evening by the Rev. Dr. McGlynn. 

If the commencement was poor and humble, and 
the place once but the loft of wheelwrights, high digni- 
taries of the Church did not disdain to encourage the 
faithful by their presence. So zealously had the pastor 



CHURCH OF ST. BERNARD. 207 

set about his duties that before the end of another 
year, May 12, 1869, the Archbishop again visited the 
humble but fervent chapel to administer the sacrament 
of confirmation to two hundred children, who had been 
prepared for its reception. 

Rev. Mr. Healy had meanwhile purchased, on the first 
of May, a site for the new church on West Fourteenth 
Street, between Eighth and Ninth Avenues, and estab- 
lished a Church Building Association to aid in the good 
work. Fairs, excursions, and other modes of interesting 
people in the church, with direct collections, showed 
so liberal a response as to justify the pastor in commenc- 
ing St. Bernard's on the 8th of May, 1872, by excavat- 
ing the ground to lay the foundation. The corner-stone 
was laid on the 11th of May, 1873, by the Most Rever- 
end Archbishop, assisted by the Rt. Rev. David W. 
Bacon, Bishop of Portland, and the Rt. Rev. Francis 
McNeirny, Bishop of Albany. Various societies connected 
with the church attended, and the faithful gathered in 
vast crowds, regardless of the threatening weather, so that 
it was estimated that nearly ten thousand persons were 
present. They were eloquently addressed on the occasion 
by the Rev. M. J. O'Farrell, of St. Peter's Church, New 
York. 

Encouraged by the Archbishop, priest and people 
went zealously on, though the general financial distress 
of the country, throwing thousands out of employment. 



208 CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 

made many unable to aid as generously as they desired. 
The church was, however, at last completed, and on the 
30th of May, 1875, solemnly dedicated to St. Ber- 
nard of Clairvaux, Abbot and Doctor of the Church, by 
his Eminence Cardinal McCloskey. It is the pride of 
the pastor and his flock that their church is the first 
dedicated by an American Cardinal. The sermon at the 
High Mass was delivered by the Rt. Rev. B. J. Mc- 
Quaid, Bishop of Rochester. A rich scarlet velvet throne 
was erected for the first American Cardinal, and the altar 
was draped with the same color. The altar was extremely 
rich and tastefully adorned, as were the two side altars 
of the Blessed Virgin and St. Joseph, while the elegant 
stained glass windows poured in rays of tinted light, whicb 
made the procession as it filed into the sanctuary re- 
splendent; and showed the ancient faith in all the grandeur 
of its ritual. 

The Archbishop congratulated the faithful on the suc- 
cess of all their labors and sacrifices. " Much of the 
success of this grand undertaking," said he, "is due to 
the zeal, piety, and energy of your beloved pastor, who 
has toiled night and day to complete the work. To- 
day he sees in some sense his reward. You have all 
labored with him, and Avhatever you have given, you 
have given with whole hearts, and you will find your 
reward hereafter. But in finishing this temple to Al- 
mighty God, all is not accomplished, great as your 



CHURCH OF ST. BERNARD. 209 

sacrifices have been. There is miicli yet to be done. 

You have built a temple for the present, as it exists ; but 

during the next ten years, crowded as it is to-day, there 

will be still larger crowds within its walls. I wish you 

all the blessing of the Almighty God present in this 

church to-day, and ask you to remember that hereafter, 

in another temple not built by human hands, we may, 

if our lives are pui'e and our paths in the way of God, 

meet together in that temple which is above." 

The piety of the congregation has been sustained by 

every available means. Missions, most consoling in their 

beneficial influence, were given by the Redemptorist 

Father in the temporary church in 1872, and by the 

Jesuit Father Damen and his associates in the new and 

elegant edifice in 1875. 

Eight hundred and five persons were confirmed in 

the humble temple first occupied, and five hundred and 

thirty- two in the autumn of 1875 in the new church. 

The church edifice itself is a conspicuous monument 

of the piety and zeal of priest and people. Of a true 

ecclesiastical style, grand and imposing, it attracts the 

eye of thousands passing up and down the adjacent 

avenue, and none has any occasion to inquire what the 

building is, for it speaks for itself, that it is a Catholic 

church. 

We might call it the Church of the " Memorare," so 

much has that prayer, drawn from the works of St. Ber- 
14 



210 CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 

nard, by ''The Poor Priest," Father Bernard; done to 
stimulate piety to tlie Blessed Virgin and keep alive the 
memory of the holy doctor. 

St. Bernard was always one to influence others. 
When he renounced the world and resolved to enter a 
monastery, he did not go alone. Full of zeal for others, 
he induced no less than thu'ty of liis young companions 
to join him, and the influence of his eloquence showed 
itself in the reality of their vocations. They saved 
Citeaux, which was almost abandoned, and infused such 
a new life that in 1115 Clairvaux was founded and Ber- 
nard made abbot. His monastery became a hive for 
bishops and abbots ; he even saw one of his monks 
raised to the Holy See. He was the light of several 
councils, caused Europe to . recognize Pope Innocent II. 
and reject the Antipope Anacletus ; and saved Europe 
from Saracen invasion by his exertions to rouse the 
princes and warriors of the West to undertake a crusade. 
Amid all his active life he seemed to be ever in prayer 
or at study. His works breathe the most tender piety, 
with the leai-ning of the theologian and the brilliancy of 
the ]3oet. 

The Order which he raised, as it were from the 
grave, spread in his day to England and Ireland. He 
was thus brought in contact with our fathers in the 
faith. St. Malachy died in his arms, and found a biog- 
rapher in this holy doctor of the Chiu'cL Thus endeared 



CHURCH OF ST. BERNARD. , 211 

to Ireland, tlie Cistercians accompli slied wonders in root- 
ing the truths of religion so deep in the hearts of those 
they taught that no persecutions could tear them from 
the faith of St. Patrick. 

As if to carry out the devotion of the holy patron 
to Our Lady, all the important events in the history of 
the parish are recorded in the month of May. The 
site of the church was bought in May, 1867 ; the first 
work begun in May, 1872 ; the corner-stone laid in May, 
1873, and the dedication in May, 1875. 

The church with its grounds cost over two hundred 
thousand dollars — the church proper $185,320.50 — and 
nearly half this amount has been already paid. 

As assistants in the good work of the pastor we 
find the names of Rev. Messrs. James Galligan, Michael 
Brennan, Bartholomew Galligan, Patrick J. Healy, Patrick 
S. Pigney, and William J. O'Kelly. His associates at 
present are the Pev. William J. Foy and the Pev. John 
J. Piordan. 

The Society of St. Vincent de Paul has been organ- 
ized for the relief of the poor ; a Temperance Society 
to give strength and encouragement to the weak, and 
preserve sobriety ; the Posary Society does its hoi}' work ; 
the Children of Mary, with kindred societies, nourish 
the piety of the young ladies, while the young gentle- 
men find in St. Bernard's Literary Union, and Literary 
Association, a centre for social intercourse and the 



212 CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YOEK. 

strengthening" of sound principles and literary culture. 
The societies belonging to the church number in all 
thirteen. 

These church associations are a peculiar Avant of our 
time. The sodalities and confraternities instituted in the 
Church for union and prayer, and enriched with indul- 
gences and favors by the Sovereign Pontiffs, attract the 
pious, but few men can be drawn into them. 

While Masonic Lodges, Odd Fellows, and secret 
societies of every name and form permeate the whole 
fabric of society, and are constantly alluring Catholic 
men and youth to enter them — cutting themselves off, 
though they do, from the Church and its means of grace, 
by passing their portals — it is evident that the fostering 
of associations in which Catholics can and will come 
together for benevolent, literary or other pm-poses, is one 
of the great needs of our time. 

In such associations each becomes an element of 
strength to his brotlier, and the whole a tower of 
strength. The Catholic is no longer isolated. He feels 
that he will be supported in fidelity to his religion ; he 
becomes a hundred-fold more deeply interested in his 
church and its interests, in all works of charity, in the 
relief of the poor; and, above all, he begins to feel how 
much depends on a sound Catholic education, and what 
it • behooves every man to do for the maintenance and 
perfection of our system of parocliial schools. 



CHURCH OF ST. BERNARD. 213 



REV. OABRIEL A. HEALY, 

PASTOR OF ST. BEKNARD'S. 



THE Rev. Gabriel A. Healy is a native of New 
York City, born October 20tli, 1841, and baptized 
in its oldest parish — St. Peter's. He was of a studious 
turn, and after some early training at the school of the 
Clndstian Brothers, in Canal Street, entered the College 
of St. Francis Xavier, in Fifteenth Street, in 1853, and 
went through the course with credit. He was graduated 
in 1860, and having determined to embrace the ecclesias- 
tical state, was sent by the Archbishop to pursue his 
course of theology in the great seminary of St. Sulpice, 
Montreal. 

Having here stored his mind with the dogmatic lore 
and the moral theology, as well as the Scriptural know- 
ledge and the principles of the canon law, he returned 
to his own diocese, and in September, 1864, was ordained 
subdeacon, deacon, and priest, by the Right Rev. James 
Roosevelt Bayley, D.D., then Bishop of Newark. 

The first position assigned to the young priest was 
that of assistant in his native parish, of which the Rev. 
William Quinn was then rector. Here he remained about 
three years and a half, establishing a reputation as a priest 



214 CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 

whose future promised great usefulness to souls in the 
Chui'ch of God. 

His zeal and piety, with a readiness for business 
management so necessary and requisite in a priest who 
has to organize a new flock and erect a chm-ch, when 
all the resources have to be drawn from voluntary con- 
tributions, were all displayed so clearly in the Rev. Mr. 
Healy that all saw he must soon be called to a sphere 
where these qualities would find employment. 

What he has accomplished in the establishment of 
St. Bernard's parish and the erection of the noble church 
has already been told ; and this constitutes his biography. 
He has the talent of interesting all his people in his 
projects, so that they take them up as really some- 
thing for their own good and the good of their childi'en 
after them — not anything for his benefit or even the grati- 
fication of a personal vanity to be flattered by their accom- 
plishment. 

Feeling proud of their church, and anxious to see it 
completed and freed from debt, the parishioners of both 
sexes have been prompt to act on the least suggestion, 
and as societies have been formed among them to suit 
the- tastes of all, the pastor in guiding them is brought 
in contact with all his people, who are not left in mere 
apathy to see him struggle, but all become workers in 
the good cause. 



OHUaOH OF ST. BERNARD. 215 


Roll of H 


ONOR. 


Arneel, Robert. 


Fogarty, Patrick A. 


Mclntyre, Margaret, Mrs. 


Ashe, Gregory. 


Fowley, Delia. 


McLoughlin, Edward. 


Baldwin, Patrick J. 


Franey, Thomas. 


McManus, Ann, Mrs. 


Begg, Kate M., Mrs. 


Frazer, John P. 


Meehan, Terence. 


Bell, James. 


Gallagher, Michael. 


Minerd, Edward. 


Bennett, John. 


Garvey, Bernard. 


Molloughney, Michael, Jr. 


Bodine, Edmond. 


Geary, Patrick W. 


Mooney, Christopher. 


Boylan, Michael. 


Godby, George W, 


Mulry, Thomas. 


Burns, William. 


Goley, Mary. 


Mulry, William P. 


Butler, William. 


Grififin, Jeremiah. 


Murphy, Michael J. 


Byrne, Martin W. 


Hagen, Mary, Mrs. 


Murphy, Thomas. 


Cagney, James. 


Halpin, Matthew. 


Murphy, William. 


Carroll, Roger. 


Halpin, William. 


Murray, William. 


Carroll, Thomas. 


Halsted, Justin J. 


Murtha, Thomas. 


Clarke, Thomas. 


Hamill, Anthony. 


O'Connell, John. 


Cleary, John. 


Hanlon, Richard. 


O'Donoghue, Dennis. 


Conway, John M. 


Hart, Patrick J. 


O'Neil, Charles J. 


Coogan, Patrick. 


Healey, John J. 


O'Rourke, Owen. 


Corbett, Bernard. 


Healey, Thomas F. 


O'Shaughnessy, Michael. 


Corrigan, John P. 


Hernon, James. 


Penny, James. 


Craven, Patrick. 


Herrick, C. Mrs. 


Purtill, William. 


Crosson, Thomas. 


Herrick, William J. 


Quinlon, Catharine. 


Crumley, James. 


Higgins, Daniel. 


Rafferty, John. 


Cussen, John. 


Higgins, John. 


Reilly, Patrick. 


Deane, George B. 


Hoaghland, I. C. 


Reynolds, Lawrence. 


Delany, Mary, Mrs. 


Holtan, Edward. 


Roach, John. 


Devanney, James P. 


Hughes, Catharine, Mrs 


Rogan, John. 


Devine, James. 


Kenehan, Richard F. 


Rooney, James. 


Devine, Michael. 


Kennedy, John. 


Rourke, John. 


Downey, Bridget M. 


Larkin, Felix. 


Rowan, James. 


Downing, Delia, Mrs. 


Leonard, William. 


Ryan, Cornelius L. 


Driscall, Timothy. 


Linherr, John A. 


Ryan, Edward. 


Dugan, Michael. 


Logue, Philip. 


Ryan, George. 


Dunn, Ann, Mrs. 


Lynch, Mary Teresa, Mrs. Ryan, Patrick. | 


Dwyer, Timothy. 


McDermott, John. 


Scanlan, Michael J. 


Early, Edward. 


McDermott, Lawrence. 


Scanlon, Michael. 


Fealy, James. 


McDermott, William. 


Sheridan, Bridget, Mrs. 


Feeney, Peter. 


McDonald, John. 


Skiffington, Margaret. 


Fitzgerald, Honora, Mrs. 


McDonald, Joseph. 


Smith, Alfred. 


Fitzsimmons, Thomas. 


McGee, Michael. 


Walsh, John. 


Flynn, Michael. 


McGovern, Hugh. 


Walsh, Mathew J. 


Flynn, P. H. 


McGrory, Honora. 


Wilson, Andrew. 


Fogarty, Michael. 


McGuire, Michael. 
Mcllhargy, John. 


Woods, John. 






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CHURCH OF SAINT BONIFACE. 

SECOND AVENUE AND FOKTY-SEVENTH STREET. 



IT was fitting that the great City of New York, with 
its vast German population, should have a church 
dedicated to the illustrious St. Winfrid, who renounced 
his abbey in Saxon England to become the apostle of Ger- 
many. Born in Devonshire about the year 680 ; trained 
to virtue and the perfection of the monastic state, he 
became a preacher of wonderful power over the souls of 
men in his own land ; and then, burning with zeal to 
bear the light of the gospel to the heathen tribes of the 
Low Countries and Germany, he endeavored to convert 
the King of Friesland. He was soon after made abbot, 
but renounced the dignity to give himself entirely to the 
conversion of the heathen. 

Encouraged by the blessing of Pope Gregory II., 
St. Winfrid, or Boniface, as he now began to be called, 
baptized thousands in Bavaria, Thuringia, Friesland, 
Hesse, and Saxony, and was made by the Pope, Bishop 
and subsequently Archbishop of Germany, and legate of 
the Holy See. He is thus the great central figure of 
the German hierarchy. His see was fixed at Mentz, 
which is the metropolitan church for Germany. After 



218 CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 

convening several councils, in which every precaution was 
taken to guard the faith, St. Boniface renewed his 
apostolic missions, and was put to death loj the heathens 
June 5, 755, obtaining the crown of martyr and apostle. 

His body, enshrined at Fulda, has been a pilgrimage 
for more than a thousand years, and veneration to liim 
is inseparable from the heart of a true German Catholic. 

In the year 1858, a few who deserved that name, 
and who resided in the Nineteenth Ward of New York 
City, resolved to take steps for the erection of a new 
church as a safeguard for the faith of their families. They 
collected among the Catholics of that neighborhood, 
$792.88, and borrowing more, purchased three lots of 
ground on the south-east corner of Second Avenue and 
East Forty-seventh Street, as a site for a church to be 
dedicated to the worship of Almighty God, under the 
invocation of the great saint who closed his missionary 
career by so noble a martyrdom. 

On the ground thus acquired stood an humble frame 
structure sixty feet in length by twenty in breadth, 
which had been used as a carpenter's shop. It was 
now to be sanctified by its dedication to a worsliip of 
which its original builders knew little. The faith which 
liad its cradle at Bethlehem has in New York City be- 
gun in many parishes with homes as devoid of all 
human pomp and show as the grotto near the holy city 
of David — the future slnrine of religion, in bold and 



CHUECH OF ST. BONIFACE. 219 

grandest architecture, rising from the world-despised be- 
ginning as did the faith itself 

Skillful hands soon transformed the workshop of the 
artisans dear to tlie heart of St. Joseph into a tempo- 
rary chapel. The Most Reverend Archbishop Hughes not 
only encouraged the work, but came on the 17th day 
of October, 1858, to dedicate this modest edifice to the 
service of Almighty God. He was attended by his secre- 
tary, the Rev. Francis McNeirny, now Bishop of Albany, 
and performed the ceremony of dedication. The church 
was simple and humble, but the majesty of Catholic 
worsliip ennobles the spot. Said a missionary of two 
centuries previous, who had reared in a dsij a bark 
chapel at Onondaga: "It is true that for all marbles 
and all precious metals we employed only bark; but as 
soon as it was built it was sanctified by the baptism of 
three children, to whom the way to heaven was opened 
as wide beneath these layers of bark, as to those who 
are held over fonts beneath vaults of silver and g-old." 

The church was dedicated to the service of Al- 
mighty God under the invocation of St. Boniface ; and 
the Rev. Matthew Nicot, whom the Most Reverend 
Archbishop had appointed pastor of the new church, as- 
cended to the altar which he had reared, and intoned 
the solemn sacrifice of the new law in the presence of 
the chief pastor of the diocese. The pulpit was occupied 
that day by the Rev. Ambrose Buchmeyer, pastor of the 



220 CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 

Church of St. Nicholas, in Second Street, the pioneer of 
the German churches in our city. 

The pastor began his mission labors with the bless- 
ing of God and the patronage of the great-hearted English 
saint of old ; and he is laboring still among the same flock. 
The fold was soon too small. In about tlu-ee years he 
found it necessary to enlarge the dimensions of his chapel 
by new additions. This even did not suffice, and a second 
enlargement was required. 

In the year 1868, the congregation, who had gone 
on modestly and quietly, resolved to replace the tempo- 
rary structure by a more substantial edifice. The original 
chapel was accordingly removed, and a neat and modest 
brick church, suited to their wants and means, was erected 
in that and the following year. It did not aspire to 
rival the great cathedrals of Europe. The country had 
just emerged from a tremendous civil war, and times of 
financial trouble were at hand. The church accommodates 
about one thousand, and with its neat altar and decorous 
service, attracts many hearts more than edifices which in 
their splendor seem to divert rather than inspire devotion. 

This new Church of St. Boniface was dedicated in 
May, 1869, by Father Bonaventura Frey. 

While content with a modest church, the congrega- 
tion could afford to make sacrifices for a school, and in 
the year of the dedication of the new church, erected a 
convenient school -house. 



CHURCH OF ST. BONIFACE. 221 



EEV. MATTHEW NICOT, 

PASTOE or ST. BONIFACE'S CHURCH. 



THE Rev. Matthew Nicot, founder and for the 
last twenty years pastor of the Church of St. 
Boniface, is a native of the province of Lorraine, born in 
what was the Department de la Meurthe, France, before 
that unhappy war in which the house of Bonaparte lost 
what the Bourbons had won. He was bom in the year 
1820, and was educated at Pont-a-Mousson and at Nancy. 
He was ordained in 1846, and having resolved to labor 
for the good of souls in this country, where so great 
need existed, he came to America in 1857, and was for 
a time assistant to Rev. Annet Lafont, in the Church of 
St. Vincent de Paul, and also at St. Ann's, before he 
took charge of the flock which assumed as its holy patron 
the great apostle of Germany. 

From his installation there, he was also for some 
time cha]3lain of the Sisters of Our Lady of the Good 
Shepherd and of the penitent women under their charge. 

In 1869, he erected a convenient school-house on 
two lots of ground which he had prudently purchased 
some years before. Here three hundred and fifty pupils 
are regularly instructed in English and German. 



222 CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YOEK. 

The next year the pastor purchased a modest pas- 
toral residence, No. 307 East Forty-seventh Street, oppo- 
site the churcli, the shaded court leading to the home 
of the priest of St. Boniface. 

The cono-reg-ation numbers about twelve hundred, 
and the annual baptisms add eighty to the flock. 

St. Boniface has, among other aids to piety and 
zeal, a thriving Altar Society — in which the ladies show 
their love for the beauty of God's house — and a Rosary 
Society. 

He has not generally had an assistant, discharging 
alone the duties of his parochial charge among the con- 
gregation to whom a ministry of nearly a quarter of a 
century has endeared him. 

The life of a priest in his daily ministration — his 
offering the Holy Sacrifice, the recitation of his office, 
his private devotions, his supervision of his schools, visits 
to the sick and those who need his word of encourage- 
ment, baptizing the infant, instructing and directing 
those who come to learn the truth, long hours spent in 
the confessional, the Sunday and holiday with their ex- 
hausting service, two masses, perhaps, and vespers — all 
this has little that strikes the unobservant eye, but where 
zealously and faithfully discharged these duties make a 
career heroic. 

Roll of Honor.— August Wolf; Bernard Wenning; F. A. 
Newman; Charles Spilea; William Michels, jr.; Edward Kennedy; Mrs. 
Caroline Feist; Patrick Crowe. 




CHURCH OE SATNT BRIDGET. 

AVENUE B. 



CHURCH OF SAINT BRIDGET. 

AVENUE B. 



A 



BOUT the year 1848, tlie Rev. Riclmrd Kein, a 
young and brilliant priest, while pastor of the 
Church of the Nativity, saw that another church was 
needed in the eastern part of the city, and resolved to 
erect a temple to the Most High, which should be 
under the especial patronage of the Mary of Ireland, 
one of the wonder- Avorking Triad whose names are al- 
ways associated in the reverence of Irish hearts. 

The Rt. Rev. Bishop Hughes, whose secretary the 
Rev. Mr. Kein had been for a time, encouraged him, deem- 
ing it easier to find one to replace him in a settled 
parish than to meet one so fitted for the creation of 
a new church. 

The Rev. Mr, Kein, a native of Meath, educated at 
Mount St. Mary's, and with four years' experience in the 
ministry, looked for a church site in a central position 
in the district assigned to his care and guidance. He 
found it on Avenue B, near Eighth Street, facing the 
East River, and fronting immediately on Tompkins 
Square, thus affording exceptional advantages for a church, 
with nothing to darken it in front or at the side. 



CHURCH OF ST. BRIDGET. 225 

The faithful of the new parish of St. Bridget were 
soon aroused, and every feehng of devotion and rational 
pride impelled them to exertions to make the chm-ch of 
their holy patroness worthy of so great a saint. 

The Right Reverend Bishop, in order to aid by his 
presence and influence, laid the corner-stone on Sunday, 
the 10th of September, 1848. An immense crowd gath- 
ered in the just commenced church, filling platforms and 
rising walls to witness the imposing ceremonial and listen 
to the eloquent words of a bishop whose name and 
fame had spread tlu-ough the country. So great was 
the crush that one of the newly laid walls sank under 
the weight, causing some alarm, but fortunately no serious 
accident to mar the spiritual joy of the congregation, 
whose noble chm-ch had just received the blessing of 
God on its earliest work. 

So rapidly was the church completed that before 
the close of the year it was ready for the offering of 
the Holy Sacrifice. It is justly remarked by the present 
pastor, that the erection of the church "was regarded at 
the time as an immense undertaking, and indeed even in our 
day such a beautiful church would be a great monument 
of the zeal and self-sacrifice of any jjriest." Of Father 
Kein the late Archbishop Hughes made the remark, ''that 
he ought to have a statue of solid gold erected in this 
church, to commemorate his toil and extraordinary en- 
terprise." 

15 



226 CATHOLIC CHUECHES OF NEW YOEK. 

The magnitude of tlie undertaking is enhanced when 
we reflect that Ireland had just passed througli the terrible 
famine of 1847, and was convulsed by the throes of 
revolution, and that the calls on the charity of the Irish 
Catholics in New York were constant and i^ressing. 

On the 2d of December the Bishop again honored 
the church. It was solemnly dedicated to the worship 
of God, and a Solemn High Mass offered with the rich 
ceremonial, the exquisite music — all that zeal and piety 
could bring to add dignity to the first service. 

The church itself, in its vast proportions, in the 
symmetry of its architecture, in the size and adornment 
of its altar, was a great step in advance ; many of our 
earlier churches having been substantial and plain, with 
no attempt to copy the elegance that the builders of the 
Middle Ages threw into the churches of Europe. 

After completing so noble a monument to the virgin 
saint of Erin, the pastor devoted himself to the build- 
ing up of a nobler temple in the hearts of his faithful. 
It was soon a well-organized parish, instinct with true 
Catholic life, and keenly alive to anything affecting the 
honor of St. Bridget's. 

Large as his church seemed to be originally for his 
congregation, it soon proved to be none too spacious. 
It was thronged with devout Avorshipers ; the children in 
the Sunday-schools, opened for their instruction, showed 
by their numbers the great want that had existed, and 



CHURCH OF ST. BRIDGET. 227 

• as early as June 23, 1853, we find tlie Right Reverend 
Bishop confirming four hundred and forty in this new 
parish. 

The pastoral duties were too onerous for one clergy- 
man, and the pastor was assisted successively by the 
Rev. Thomas Farrell and the Rev. Edward Murphy. 
For the use of the parochial clergy, Rev. Mr. Kein, in 
1851, erected a convenient pastoral residence. In the 
year 1852 it was evident that his health was irretrievably 
affected, and the Most Reverend Archbishop called to the 
parish one whose abilities and zeal were ever at his ser- 
vice where difficulties were to be encountered, the Do- 
minican Father Thomas Martin. The Rev. Mr. Kein sank 
gradually, and died at Westchester, January 9, 1854. 

Father Martin remained in the church as pastor, 
merely till everything was in proper order, when the 
Archbishop selected as rector the Rev. Thomas J. Moo- 
ney, a young priest ordained in January, 1853. This 
clergyman, in a pastorate of nearly a quarter of a cen- 
tury, identified his name with St. Bridget's Church. The 
Rev. Mr. O'Farrell, at his funeral mass, said : — 

" Father Mooney had labored in the world by preach- 
ing the Word of God to the people of St. Bridget's. 
During all his priestly career of twenty-four years he 
had been connected with that parish, and scarcely ever 
left it. He was known by all as a friend to whom 
they could always come with confidence. In his private 



228 CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YOllK. 

conversations, as well as in his public preaching, he 
always endeavored to impress upon his hearers the truths 
of the Gospel. Father Mooney had also labored in doc- 
trine — that is, he had always striven to promulgate the 
Catholic doctrines, especially by means of education." 

He felt the vast importance of a truly Catholic 
training for the young, and at once after appointment 
set about meeting the great want. He established an 
excellent parochial school, placing the boys under Broth- 
ers of the Christian Schools, and the girls under Sisters 
of Charity. With convenient school-house, well- ventilated 
and well-furnished rooms, the parochial institution throve 
so that in a few years it had eight hundred boys and 
one thousand girls receiving a thorough, and, what is best, 
a Catholic education. Besides this school he induced the 
Sisters to open St. Bridget's Academy in East Tenth 
Street, an excellent select school, which is attended by 
more than two hundred pupils. 

At the commencement of the civil war, when the 
Sixty-ninth Regiment New York State National Guard vol- 
unteered for service and proceeded to the seat of war, the 
pastor of St. Bridget's offered to act as their chaplain, 
and his offer was accepted by Government. He dis- 
charged his duties during their term of service, and on 
the 14th of August, 1861, offered up a Solemn Requiem 
Mass in St. Bridget's for the repose of the souls of the 
deceased members of the regiment. The beautiful church 



CHURCH OF ST. BRIDGET. 229 

was draped in mourning; a catafalque in the middle aisle 
represented the dead who Avere buried on the field where 
they had so gallantly fallen — the first of thousands of 
Catholics who poured out their life blood for the pre- 
servation of the American Republic in its integrity. 

The Rev. Mr. Mooney celebrated the mass, assisted 
by the Rev. Mr. Brennan as deacon and the Rev. Mr. 
Asmuth as subdeacon, and closed the solemn service by 
some touching remarks on the deceased. 

Returning to the seat of war as chaplain to the 
Irish Brigade, he, for a considerable period, exchanged 
the quiet routine of parisli duty for the dangerous and 
stirring life of an army chaplain, serving also with the 
Irish Brigade in the terrible operations that so often 
devolved upon it. 

He resumed his duties at St. Bridget's with new zeal 
and his wonted activity, and not long after performed 
the marriage service between one of his parishioners, 
Lieut. Fitch, Engineer U.S.N., and the daughter of W. 
T. Sherman, General of the United States Army 

His life of labor and usefulness was sadly closed. 
While driving- home throug-h Fifth Avenue on the evenino- 
of September lltli, 1877, his vehicle was overturned near 
the corner of Forty-seventh Street by a heap of stones, 
carelessly left there and not lighted. Thrown violently 
against the curbstone, his skull was fractured. He was 
taken to the pastoral residence of the Church of St. 



230 CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 

John the Evangelist, but though hopes were entertained 
of his recovery, he sank rapidly, and expired on the 
13th. His loss filled his parish with profound grief. At 
the Requiem Mass, the children of the schools and many 
of the people wore mourning. After the Office of the 
Dead, a Solemn High Mass was sung by the Rev. Mr. 
McGean, Bishop Corrigan of Newark, and Bishop Mc- 
Neirny of Albany, with nearly a hundred priests being 
present. A fitting tribute to the deceased pastor was 
paid by the- Rev. Mr. O'Farrell of St. Peter's Church, 
Barclay Street, taking as his text the words of St. Paul 
to Timothy: "Let the priests who do well be esteemed 
worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in 
the word and in doctrine." 

On the untimely death of this active and energetic 
priest, his Eminence Cardinal McCloskey appointed the 
Rev. Dr. P. F. McSweeny to the widowed parish. Under 
his care it advances in the way of prosperity. The 
schools maintain their liigh excellence, and though, owing 
to the prevailing depression in business and consequent 
distress among the humbler portion of the community, 
many are unable to continue sending their children to 
school, they numbered in 1878, six hundred and fifty 
boys and nine hundred girls. 

In a parish so well conducted as St. Bridget's we 
naturally look for Catholic associations. They are a great 
means for bringing the members of a congregation into 



CHURCH OF ST. BRIDGET. 



231 



closer union, in sliielding them from the attraction of 
forbidden societies, and in fostering piety, devotedness, 
and a feeling of pride in the church and its work. 

St. Bridget's has long had an Altar Society of ladies, 
who love the beauty of God's house and altar, and affec- 
tionately contribute to its becoming adornment; a Rosary 
Society, in Avhich tliat ancient prayer is recited in com- 
mon. The St. Bridget's Benevolent Association and the 
Conference of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul are 
the channels of Christian charity ; the Total Abstinence 
Society encourages those who find themselves too weak 
to resist a craving for drink, to renounce it altogether, 
strengthened by God's grace imparted in the sacraments. 

The Sunday-schools, with their good library, interest 
the young, for whom a special mass is said every Sunday 
morning. 



Arthur, Rosanna. 
Attridge, John G. 
Balbert, Mary. 
Barry, James. 
Beatty, Martin. 
Blaber, Julia, Mrs. 
Black well, Thomas. 
Blessing, Peter. 
Bowe, Peter. 
Boylan, Owen. 
Boyle, Mary. 
Brady, Ann, Mrs. 
Brady, Michael. 
Buckley, Daniel. 



X OF 


Honor. 


Burns, John. 


Carroll, Richard. 


Burns, Mark. 


Casey, Peter. 


Burns, Patrick. 


Casey, Robert. 


Burns, William. 


Cassidy, Patrick. 


Burke, Michael J. 


Cassidy, Thomas. 


Byrne, Patrick. 


Clancy, Patrick. 


Caffry, Peter. 


Clarke, Alexander. 


Cagney, William. 


Clarke, Ann. 


Cahill, John. 


Clifford, Cornelius. 


Campbell, Francis 


Clifford, Patrick. 


Cannavan, D. 


Conlan, Francis. 


Carey, Andrew. 


Connolly, Thomas. 


Carroll, James. 


Connolly, William. 


Carroll, Michael. 


Conroy, Edward. 



232 



CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 



Conway, James. 
Conway, Maurice, Mrs. 
Corr, Thomas. 
Corrigan, Bridget. 
Cosgrove, James. 
Costello, Edward. 
Creadon, James. 
Crosley, Elizabeth. 
Crowley, Cornelius, 
Crummy, Andrew. 
Cullen, Charles. 
Cunningham, Mary, Mrs. 
Ciinnion, James. 
Curry, Bernard. 
Daley, Thomas F. 
Deeley, Peter. 
Dempsey, James. 
Dennis, Matthew. 
Devlin, Eliza. 
Devlin, William. 
Doherty, George. 
Dolan, Andrew. 
Donnelly, Catherine. 
Donnelly, Edward. 
Doonan, Philip. 
Doran, Michael. 
Dowling, Thomas. 
Doyle, James. 
Doyle, Martin. 
Doyle, Michael. 
Drumm, Peter. 
Dunn, Michael. 
Dunn, Thomas. 
Dunne, James. 
Dwyer, Dennis. 
Eagan, Peter, Jr. 
Early, Catharine, Mrs. 
Eagan, James. 
Ellard, George. 
Facey, Margaret. 
Fay, Andrew. 
Feeney, John. 
Ferrigan, Jane. 
Finley, John. 
Fitzgibbon, Gerald. 
Fitzpatrick, Patrick. 
Flemming, William. 
Flynn, James. 
Flynn, Michael. 
Ford, Mary. 
Foster, Bridget, Mrs. 
Gartlan, Hugh M. 
Gilson, Julia. 
Gordon, Henry. 
Gormley, Michael. 
Hall, Catherine. 
Hall, Robert. 
Halpin, Peter. 
Hanlon, Bernard. 
Hanly, Daniel. 
Hart, Christina, Mrs. 



Hayes, Dennis. 
Hayes, Jeremiah. 
Higgins, Mary. 
Hughes, Edward. 
Hughes, Patrick H. 
Hurley, Ann. 
Jackson, Rosanna. 
Johnson, Thomas. 
Keating, Elizabeth, Mrs. 
Keenan, Patrick. 
Kelly, James. 
Kelly, Thomas. 
Kenney, Michael. 
Kevlin, Henry. 
Kilday, Edward. 
Kirk, Thomas. 
Kirvvin, Honora. 
Kress, William. 
Lally, Thomas. 
Lamb, Patrick. 
Lamont, Peter. 
Leacy, John. 
Leahy, John. 
Leddy, Michael. 
Lennon, Dennis. 
Levins, Peter. 
Limbeck, John. 
Livingston, Mary, Mrs. 
McAlhatan, Bernard F. 
McAtamney, James. 
McAuley, Thomas. 
McAuliffe, Mary, Mrs. 
McCaffrey, Edward. 
McCann, John. 
McCann, Patrick. 
McCann, Thomas. 
McCarthy, John. 
McCarthy, Mary, Mrs. 
McCauley, Thomas. 
McClernan, A. J., Mrs. 
McConville, C. M. 
McCormick, Catharine, Mrs. 
McCrossan, Patrick. 
McCue, P. J. 
McGovern, James. 
McGrath, Dennis J. 
McGuire, Francis. 
McGuire, James H. 
McGuire, Wilham B. 
Mclnerny, Patrick. 
McKeever, William. 
McKenna, Ellen. 
McVey, William. 
Mackintosh, J. 
Maguire, Catharine. 
Mahon, James. 
Mahoney, Daniel. 
Mahoney, Dennis. 
Mahoney, John. 
Maloney, Owen. 
Masterson, P. 
Miner, Jane, Mrs. 



Monaghan, Matthew. 
Monks, John. 
Moore, Patrick H. 
Moynihan, Edward. 
Mulcown, Robert. 
Mulgrew, Felix A. 
Mullen, Mary, Mrs. 
Mulligan, Margaret, Mrs. 
Mulligan, Michael. 
Mundy, Neil. 
Murphy, Daniel. 
Murphy, F. W. 
Murphy, Margaret, Mrs. 
Murphy, Michael. 
Nash, Thomas. 
Nugent, Eliza. 
Nugent, Thomas A. 
O'Brien, Edward. 
O'Brien, M. 
O'Connell, Adelia. 
O'Connor, Mary, Mrs. 
O'Connor, P. 
O'Keefe, Kiernan. 
O'Leary, Patrick. 
O'Meara, James. 
O'Neil, Bridget, Mrs. 
O'Neil, Patrick. 
O'Neill, P. II. 
O'Reilly, Annie. 
Pelmer, Richard. 
Plumridge, Edward. 
Powers, Maurice. 
Purtell, James. 
Ratigan, Thomas. 
Rattigan, Michael. 
Reardon, John. 
Reilly, Patrick. 
Reynolds, Thomas J. 
Rigney, James. 
Riley, Thomas. 
Ripple, H. T. 
Rogan, Peter. 
Rogers, James. 
Russell, James L. 
Sexton, Bernard. 
Shell, John. 
Shortill, Bridget, Mrs. 
Skelly, Michael. 
Skiffington, Terence. 
Smith, N. 
Stanley, Kate. 
Stapleton, Daniel. 
Star, Francis. 
Sullivan, Maurice. 
Sweeney, Ann. 
Turpen, John. 
Tracey, Eliza. 
Turner, Isabella. 
Vaughan, John. 
Ward, Annie. 
White, Frank. 



CHURCH OF ST. BRIDGET. 233 



REV. PATRICK FRANCIS McSWEENY, 

PASTOR OF ST. BRIDGET'S CHURCH. 



THE Rev. Dr. Patrick Francis McSweeny, the pres- 
ent pastor of St. Bridget's, was born in Ireland, 
July 9tli, 1838. He came to America with his parents 
in April, 1849, in the eleventh year of his age. He 
was educated principally at the Jesuit College in Six- 
teenth Street, Ncav York. In October, 1856, he entered 
the College of the Propaganda, in Rome. During his 
stay in that world-renowned institution he was created 
Doctor of Philosophy in 1858, and Doctor of Divinity in 
1862. Having been ordained priest on June 14th of 
the last named year, he returned to New York, and was 
appointed by the late Archbishop Hughes to the assistant 
pastorship of St. Joseph's. In July of the following year 
he was transferred to the Cathedral. Here he remained 
till January, 1870, when he was sent as pastor to Peekskill, 
New York. In January, 1871, he was appointed pastor 
of St. Peter's, Poughkeepsie. There he divided his large 
parish, and founded the present St. Mary's parish, having 
purchased the new church from the Universalists. He 
built a spacious pastoral residence, enlarged the convent, 
and repaired and improved St. Peter's Church, without 



234 CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 

incurring any debts there. In 1872, he succeeded in 
placing the large Catholic schools of Poughkeepsie under 
the Public Board of Education in such a manner as to 
secure their maintenance from the public funds and their 
greater efficiency in the secular branches of education, 
while rather increasing than diminishing the advantages 
previously enjoyed in a religious point of view, and this 
without running counter in the least to the laws of the 
State or the principle of undenominational education in 
schools supported by the public taxes. 

In the actual position of the school question in 
America, every expedient that seems to offer a means of 
putting an end to the wicked and inhuman injustice 
that taxes a large portion of the community for an un- 
religious system of schools, when in conscience they 
cannot avail themselves of any but a system in which 
religion holds a part in forming the mind and heart of 
the young, is worth being tested. 

Catholics, so long as they believe in Grod and eter- 
nity, can never accept the present schools as they stand. 
Yet as a body they are powerless to effect any radical 
change, and meanwhile have to expend millions of dol- 
lars in affording an education for which the State taxes 
them ; but, instead of an egg, tenders the child a serpent. 

In November, 1877, the Eev. Dr. McSweeny was 
appointed to his present position ; his assistants being, in 
1878, the Rev. Hugh McCabe and the Rev. J. Byron. 



CHURCH OF SAINT CECILIA. 

SECOND AVENUE AND ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTH STREET. 



TliE Most Reverend Archbishop McCloskey, as 
early as the year 1863, in view of the increas- 
ing Cathohc population in that part of New York Island, 
purchased for twenty-one thousand dollars a piece of 
property, on the north-east corner of Second Avenue and 
One Hundred and Fifth Street, sufficient for the erection 
of a suitable church, with a pastoral residence and the 
schools which in time would gather around the sacred 
edifice. 

For some ^^ears, however, the condition of the country 
made any fui'ther attempt unwise; but in 1873 the Most 
Reverend Archbishop deemed that the time had come to 
afford the Catholics in that part the advantages of a 
church. He confided the task of organizing the parish 
and erecting the new church to a priest who had, as first 
assistant at St. Teresa's, won the respect and attention 
of that congregation. 

Placing his new parish under the patronage of St. 
Cecilia, the Rev. Hugh Flattery proceeded to the work of 
organization : and in May he began the erection of a 



CHURCH OF ST. CECILIA. 237 

temporary chapel in wliicli he could offer the Holy Sacri- 
fice and preach the word of God till the circumstances of 
the congreg-ation justified the great work of erecting the 
grand church projected by their piety and hope. 

By the energy of the pastor, this commodious though 
temporary structure was soon completed, and on the 20th 
of August, 1873, the Most Reverend Archbishop dedicated 
it with the usual ceremonies, and the new church of St. 
Cecilia took its place among the Catholic slmnes of New 
York Island. 

At the first mass, then offered with due pomp and 
majesty, a sermon was preached by the Rev. Jolm Lan- 
caster Spalding, then in the diocese, now Bishop of 
Peoria. At the vesper service, which closed the day, the 
Rev. Dr. McGlynn delivered an eloquent discourse. 

The early virgin saints and martyrs, revered for ages 
in all countries of the Catholic world, should not be 
strangers to the thought, the heart, or the devotion of 
our people. St. Cecilia is one of those whom our Holy 
Mother, the Chui-ch, has from age to age commemorated 
in the canon of the mass and invoked in her litany — 
one of those whom she everywhere and always commends 
to us as patrons. 

She was of a patrician family at Rome, devoted to 
the service of God, consecrating her virginity to Him, 
and ever engaged in singing psalms and hymns and 
holy canticles in honor of her divine spouse. Wlien 



238 CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 

forced by lier parents to wed the young- patrician Va- 
lerian, slie gained liim and liis brother Tiburtius to the 
faith, so that when the sword of persecution was un- 
sheathed, they died, in 230, with her, blessed martyrs of 
Jesus Christ. The body of St. Cecilia was interred by 
Pope Urban in the cemetery of St. Calixtus, and a 
church dedicated to her was the scene of a council 
more than thirteen hundred years ago. Her body, still 
entire, was found by Pope Paschal I., in 821, and trans- 
lated to the Church of St. Cecilia in Trastevere. Here it 
was found incorrupt in 1599. '' She lay clothed in her 
robes of golden tissue, on which were still visible the 
glorious stains of her blood, and at her feet were the 
linen cloths mentioned by Pope Paschal and his biog- 
rapher. Lying on her right side, with her arms extended 
in front of her body, she looked like one in a deep 
sleep. Her head, in a singularly touching manner, was 
turned round towards the bottom of the coffin ; her 
knees were slightly bent and drawn together. The body 
was perfectly incorrupt, and by a special miracle re- 
tained, after more than thirteen hundred years, all its 
grace and modesty, and recalled with the most truthful 
exactness, Cecilia breathing forth her soul on the pave- 
ment of her bath. A more signal vindication of the 
Church's traditions, a more consoling spectacle for a de- 
vout Catholic, it would be difficult to conceive." 

A magnificent altar was reared above her tomb by 



CHURCH OF ST. CECILIA. 239 

Cardinal Sfondrati, and beneatli it lie placed a statue by 
Maderna, representing the martyr exactly as she was 
found. 

Such is the glorious Saint, patroness of ecclesiastical 
music, whom our city honors, with St. Agnes, the Holy 
Innocents, the martyred Apostles, and Precursor of our 
Lord, his first Avitness Stephen, and the apostle bishops 
of Germany and Poland. 

The present church is a tasteful frame chapel front- 
ing on One Hundred and Fifth Street. With the altar 
and necessary fui'niture and ornaments, the church cost 
about ten thousand dollars. The vestments are extremely 
fine, and have all been purchased, except one set, the 
gift of a pious lady. 

The whole cost has been paid by the untiring ex- 
ertions of the pastor, so that the church is entirely free 
from debt. The congregation is as yet small, scattered, 
and by no means blessed with wealth. To accomplish what 
has already been done, the reverend pastor appealed, and 
not in vain, to his personal friends in various parts. 

The church has not yet been begmi. When the 
congregation seems to demand it, the corner-stone -of a 
more enduring temple will be laid, and a structure reared 
facing Second Avenue which will vie with any in our 
city. 



240 CATHOLIC 


CHURCHES OF NEW YOllK. 


HoLL 


OF Honor. 


CHURCH OF ST. CECILIA. 


Barry, David. 


McCormick, Michael. 


Doyle, James. 


McGowan, P. 


Duggan, John. 


McKeon, Charlotte, Mrs. 


Eggleston, William. 


Macy, Margaret Jane. 


Farrell, John D. 


Maguire, Charles K. 


Fegan, Edward. 


Maney, Lawrence. 


Fogarty, R., Mrs. 


Minnock, Thomas. 


Foy, John. 


Murphy, P'rancis. 


Gallagher, Daniel. 


Murtaugh, Garret. 


Ganby, Bernard. 


Norton, John. 


Gibbins, Hugh. 


O'Mara, Thomas. 


Gormley, Bernard. 


Prunty, Andrew. 


Hanlon, John. 


Reilly, John. 


Kean, M. Mrs. 


Shefflin, Daniel. 


McCann, Patrick. 


Waters, Mark. 



CHUECH OF ST. CECILIA. 241 



THE REV. HUGH FLATTERY, 



FASTOE OF 8T. CECILIA'S CHURCH. 



THE Rev. Hugh Flattery, who has reared a church 
in honor of the virgin martyr St. Ceciha, near 
the shore of the East River at One Hundred and Fifth 
Street, is a native of Ireland — born, educated, and ordained 
amid all the hallowed associations connected with every 
quarter of the island. 

He was born in Ballinasloe, County Galway, in 
1838, though his parents, Hugh Molloy Flattery and 
Catharine Duhan, were both natives of Kings County. 
His father dying while he was yet a child, his mother 
removed to Dublin, and Hugh received his early edu- 
cation in the metropolis of Ireland. Proceeding to Rome 
in 1853, he pursued his theological studies in the center 
of Catholicity. Having completed his course before the 
canonical age when he could be raised to the priest- 
hood, he applied himself during the period thus left him 
to the thorough study of philosophy, and was graduated 
in that science in 1859. In the following year he was 
ordained priest by the late Cardinal Patrizi, and cele- 
brated his first mass in the basilica of St. Bartholomew, 
erected on the site of an ancient temple of ^sculapius. 

Returning to Ireland, he entered on the duties of 
16 



242 CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 

the ministry at Adair, tlie seat of tlie Earl of Dunraven, 
and at St. Jolni's Catliedral, Limerick. 

About twelve years ago he voluntarily joined the 
Diocese of New York, giving his services to the Most 
Reverend Archbishop. 

His first missionary labors were discharged in the 
parish of St. Teresa, the Most Reverend Archbishoj) hav- 
ing confided to him the position of assistant at that 
chui'ch. 

The sterling qualities evinced in this position in- 
duced his superiors, in May, 1873, to call him to the field 
in which he is now laboring. It was no slight tribute 
to his merit that the congregation showed the utmost 
reluctance to part Avitli him. They would not let him 
depart without a substantial token of their respect and 
regard. The men of the congregation subscribed a purse 
of three thousand dollars, which they presented to him 
with a suitable address ; and the ladies of St. Teresa, 
no less appreciative, resolved to show their esteem for 
his priestly qualities and unremitting labors. Their ad- 
dress breathes tliis in every line, and the subscriptions 
among them amounted to a thousand dollars. 

In his new parish he has been equally successful 
in winning the good mil of his flock. He has paid the 
whole cost of his church, a heavy assessment of five 
thousand dollars, and reduced greatly the mortgage on 
the property. 




CHUKOH OF SAINT COLUMBA 

WESX TWENTY-FIFTH STREET, 



CHURCH OF SAINT COLUMBA. 

WEST TWENTY-FIFTH STREET. 



WHEN the first steps were taken to form the 
coiig-regation of St. Joseph's Church, Green- 
wich Village lay like a hamlet apart from the busy and 
settled portion of the City of New York, but in twenty 
years dwellings grew up to and far beyond it, so 
that the Catholics as far up as Twenty-fifth Street, in 
what was then known as Chelsea, began to consider 
whether they could not erect a church that would be 
convenient to them and others of their faith who could 
then be found still further north. 

The project did not seem premature to the Rt. Rev. 
Bishop Hughes. He confided the task of gathering the 
faithful of that part of the island and organizing a con- 
gregation, to a brilliant and eloquent Irish priest, then 
but a few months in his diocese, the Rev. Patrick Jo- 
seph Bourke. This clergyman roused the religious en- 
thusiasm of his Catholic countrymen in the district 
allotted to him across the island from Fourteenth to 
Forty-second Street ; and having found lots adapted to 
his purpose on Twenty-fifth Street near Ninth Avenue, 
purchased them and laid the corner-stone of a church. 



CHURCH OF ST. COLUMBA. 245 

to which Bishop Hughes, from his devotion to one of 
the greatest names in the Irish calendar, wished to as- 
sign the name of St. Colnmba. 

That holy man, the third in the wonder-working 
Triad of Irish saints, whose relics rest at Down, was 
born at Gortan, in the County Tyrconnel, in 521, of 
a noble family, and was trained to virtue and sacred 
learning by St. Finian. He founded the Abbe}^ of Dur- 
rogh and a hundred others in Ireland and Scotland, 
having drawn up for their government a rule based on 
that of the Eastern monks. His zeal havino- offended - 
King Dermot, the saint crossed over to the neighboring 
island, where he converted the northern Picts and High- 
landers, and, establishing a monastery on the island of 
lona, made it the holy island of Scotland. 

Trained in his austere school, with the example of 
his virtues, miracles, and prophecy, his disciples became 
a community of saints, and kings claimed the right of 
being interred on so holy a spot. St. Columba, after a 
life of missionary labor and monastic austerity, foretold 
the time of his death, and rising early proceeded to the 
chapel, where he received the viaticum kneeling before 
the altar, and slept sweetly in our Lord on tlie 9th of 
June, 597. His relics were subsequently translated to 
Ireland, and enshrined at Down, with those of St. Brid- 
get and St. Patrick. 

It was under the patronage of this great saint that 



246 CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 

the new chui'cli was to be built. The Rev. Mr. Bourke 
first gathered his httle flock in an old frame building- on 
the south side of Twenty-seventh Street, between Eighth 
and Ninth Avenues, where a livery stable now stands. 
The floor between the stories was cut away, but the 
place was too small for the congregation. He then ob- 
tained possession of a boat-house on Eighth Avenue and 
Twenty-foui'th Street, and by making openings in the 
sides, to accommodate those who could not find place 
within, enabled his parishioners to fulfill the obligation of 
hearing mass. 

The foundations were soon laid, so that the dimen- 
sions of the church could be seen, and on Thursday, 
May 22, 1845, the corner-stone was laid by Rt. Rev. 
Bishop Hughes, who prefaced the ceremony by an ap- 
propriate address to the large audience assembled on the 
occasion, and which numbered several thousands. 

The projected church was to be a plain but solid 
structure, sixty feet by ninety-four, indulging in no ex- 
travagance of architectural detail within or without. The 
work was prosecuted rapidly, and on the 12th of Octo- 
ber, 1845, it was made ready for a solemn dedication to 
Almighty God. 

Bishops and priests began to arrive, and though the 
day was wet and stormy, not only the pews, which 
could seat twelve hundred and fifty persons, but even 
the aisles were filled before the hour fixed for the cere- 



CHURCH OF ST. COLUMBA. 247 

mony of the day. At half-past ten the procession issued 
from the sacristy. The cross was borne aloft between two 
acolytes, with lighted candles, followed by the master of 
ceremonies leading the way for the officiating prelate, 
now his Eminence Cardinal McCloskey, then Coadjutor 
Bishop of New York. He was supported on the right 
by the Rev. Mr. Bourke, and on the left by the Rev. 
John Smith of St. James' Church. At the church door 
the chant of the Miserere rose as the bishop pronounced 
the blessing and the dedicatory prayer. Then sprinkling 
the walls, the procession returned to the sanctuary, singing 
the Litany of the Saints. The altar was solemnly devoted 
to its holy purpose, under the invocation of St. Columba, 
and was beautifully adorned. 

A Solemn High Mass was then offered by the Rev. 
Mr. Bourke, with the Rev. Messrs. Smith and Stokes as 
deacon and subdeacon. After the gospel the Rt. Rev. 
Bishop Hughes ascended to the altar, and read his text 
from the first chapter of the prophet Malachy. The 
words of the prophecy declare to the Jews the coming 
of a time when God should cease to accept the sacri- 
fices they then offered, but when to his name should come 
up an oblation from Gentiles and from Jews, from the 
rising to the setting of the sun. "The present occa- 
sion," said the learned divine, ''brings the prophecy to 
our minds — the dedication of a temple to God, one 
which has risen up as if by magic. That ceremony is 



248 CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 

apparently one of simple imj^ort, the dedication of the 
mere material substance, but the prayer and praise which 
arise within these walls are not merely for the consecra- 
tion of tiiese insensible materials, but for the consecra- 
tion to God of the hearts that are now assembled, and 
shall continue to assemble here. 

"But it is not from the simple dedication that the 
church derives its importance. It is prophesied that the time 
should come Avhen the Jewish sacrifice should cease, and 
a clean sacrifice be offered while humble prayer ascended 
from pure hearts. It is for this purpose that the Church 
of Jesus Christ erects her temples. It may be trul}- said 
that the whole universe is a fitting temple for Almig-hty 
God. God is not restricted within walls, but Jesus 
Christ, through His Churcli, has taught us that there is 
a worship which has built temples in every land in the 
world, and will continue to build its temples while time 
endures. 

" Here you will hold communion with God, and He 
with you ; and those whom God has put here will speak 
to you in the name of the Church of Jesus Christ." 

The sacred orator then proved the necessity of con- 
tinually repeated sacrifice in the Christian Church, from 
the fact that sacrifice alone Vas the most perfect and 
complete recognition of the divine supremacy, and that if 
the new dispensation did not possess this mode of recog- 
nition, it would be inferior to the old Mosaic institution. 



CHURCH OF ST. COLUMBA. 249 

Wliilst in tlie principles of Catholics there was a perpetually 
continued sacrifice, there was still no variation, no plu- 
rality of sacrifices, as in the Mosaic law; much less was 
there any substantial difference between the sacrifice of 
this day and the sacrifice of Calvary. " For at all times 
the victim (Christ) being the same, and the priest (Christ) 
the same, the sacrifice must be the same. The victim, 
tlie same Christ, now impassible, is always the victim, 
none other in the doctrine of the Church; and although 
there may be many ministering priests, there is still but 
the one High Priest, who ' remains a priest forever, ac- 
cording to the order of Melchisedec' Of all the doc- 
trines revealed in tlie New Testament, there is none so 
clearly expressed and so full of comfort as that of the 
Real Presence. Jesus instituted this sacrifice as the last 
mark of his divine love, that He might never be absent, 
but ahvays present with us. 

" Let us then, beloved brethren, properly regard the 
privileges we enjoy. Let no thought, no action escape us 
that shall do dishonor to the doctrines we profess. Let us 
render our temple more worthy by our lives, by following 
in the footsteps of our blessed Saviour. If we do this, 
we shall soon arrive where outward sacrifices shall cease 
to be necessary, and we shall sit at the right hand of oiu^ 
Father, and the mantle of his love shall be forever spread 
us." 

At the close of the mass, the Bishop gave his 



250 CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 

benediction, and as the exquisite music died away, the 
procession of bishops, priests and clerics moved from the 
sanctuary. 

The new church was very neatly fitted up, with a 
simple but beautiful altar and tabernacle. The congre- 
gation was soon numerous, and the eloquence of the 
pastor drew crowds from all parts of the city, especially 
when he j)^^^cli®<^7 ^^ ^^^ occasionally did, in Irish. 
But he was not fitted for the management of financial 
affairs, and his confidence was abused, so that St. Col- 
umba's was soon almost hopelessly involved, and after a 
pastorship of only nine months, the Rev. Mr. Bourke 
withdi'ew and returned to Europe. He was assisted 
dui'ing his brief pastorship by the Eev. P. Bradley. 

In 1846, the Bishop committed the care of the 
church to the Rev. Michael McAleer, who has continued 
to be its pastor to the present day. Introducing order 
and system into every department, he soon reduced the 
debt, which exceeded the real value of the church, and 
at last completely cleared it off. When relieved from 
the burden he proceeded to remodel the church; the 
increased congregation required more accommodation. He 
provided new pews, put up large galleries to seat sev- 
eral hundred, erected a new and far finer altar, and 
added a suitable vestiy. 

But though the church was thus fitted up for the 
service of God, the education of the young was an im- 



CHURCH OF ST. COLUMBA. 251 

perious want. A site was purchased, in 1854, for tlie 
purpose of erecting a parochial school, which was com- 
pleted in 1856. The boys' department was placed under 
the Brothers of the Clu'istian Schools, who in 1878 num- 
bered two hundred pupils ; while the Sisters of Charity, 
who have for twelve years guided the girls of the par- 
ish in the way of knowledge and piety, have five hun- 
dred and fifty under their care, as well as a hundred 
of the younger boys. 

To afford a liigher course of education for young 
ladies whose parents could afford to pay for the advan- 
tages afforded by an academy, the Sisters of Charity 
opened in 1866 the Academy of St. Angela, in Twenty- 
second Street, where they have fifty pupils. 

There are many societies connected with the church — 
the Society of the Living Rosary; the Sodality of the 
Sacred Heart, for the }'Oung men; the Children of Mary, 
for the young ladies; the Conference of St. Vincent de 
Paul, for work among the poor; St. Columba's Children's 
Aid Society, for the benefit of abandoned and destitute 
children ; a Temperance Society ; the St. Columbkille So- 
ciety, and the Young Men's Library Association. 



252 



CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 



Roll of Honor 



CHURCH OF ST. COLUMBA. 



Aspell, Catharine, Mrs. 
Barker, James. 
Beatty, Edward. 
Boylan, Frank. 
Brophy, Jolin. 
Buchanan, James. 
Byrne, Michael. 
Caine, Michael. 
Callaghan, Cornelius. 
Campbell, James. 
Campbell, Patrick. 
Churchill, Michael. 
Clifford, Dennis. 
Comerford, James. 
Cooney, Henry. 
Cooney, Thomas. 
Conroy, Matthew. 
Cullin, Richard. 
Curley, Patrick. 
Daley, James. 
Daly, Ellen, Mrs. 
Donnelly, Edward J. 
Donnelly, James, Mrs. 
Duffy, James H. 
Duffy, John. 
Dunn, Patrick. 
Egan, Bridget, Mrs. 
Egan, Joseph. 
Faley, James. 
Farrell, Andrew F. 
Farrell, John, Mrs. 
Felhen, James. 



Finney, Miss. 
Fitzgerald, James. 
Fitzpatrick, Bernard. 
Flanagan, James. 
Flood, John. 
Foley, John. 
Foley, Katie, Miss. 
Fox, Patrick J. 
Fuller, William, 
Gallaghan, Michael. 
Galnar, John. 
Gamfell, James. 
Gibbons, Mary A. 
Gomien, Miss. 
Grant, John Oscar. 
Handy, John. 
Hannon, J. D. 
Heaney, Jane. 
Hendricks, Edward. 
Higgins, Hugh. 
Home, Maria, Mrs. 
Houlihan, Michael. 
Hughes, Francis. 
Irwin, Henry. 
Irwin, John. 
Judge, Nicholas. 
Kennedy, John, Mrs. 
Kennedy, Nicholas. 
Lawlor, John. 
Leary, Andrew. 
Logan, Thomas. 
McAleenan, Henry. 



McConnon, Patrick. 
McCuc, Mary, Mrs. 
McDermott, Peter. 
McDonald, Joseph. 
McKay, Kate. 
McMahon, James, 
McStay, Francis. 
Malone, Philip. 
May, William. 
Moore, Miss. 
Morris, John. 
Morton, Mrs. 
O'Connor, William. 
O'Donnell, John. 
Ogilvie, James. 
O'Gorman, Richard. 
Quinn, Daniel. 
Quinn, Patrick J. 
Quinn, John H. 
Reilly, Christopher. 
Reilly, Francis J. 
Reilly, James. 
Reynolds, John. 
Riger, Jacob. 
Schmidt, C. A. 
Skehan, James. 
Smith, James. 
Toner, James. 
Toy, John. 
Walsh, John. 
Walsh, Michael. 
White, John J. 



CHURCH OF ST. COLUMBA. 253 

REV. MICHAEL McALEER, 

PASTOE OF ST. COLUMBA'S CHUECH. 



TliE venerable pastor of the Church of Columbkille 
is probably the oldest priest in the City of New 
York in years and ordination. He is a native of the 
County Tyrone, Ireland, where he first saw the lig-ht in 
the year 1811. Before he passed the years of boyhood 
his family emigrated to America and settled at Frederick, 
Maryland. As he evinced a taste for study, his parents, 
after he had mastered the rudiments in the school of the 
place, made every sacrifice to place him at Mount St. 
Mary's College, Emmettsburg, which he entered in the 
year 1828. After being graduated, his piety and love 
for the house of God led him to seek entrance among 
those who were preparing for the holy order of priest- 
hood. Dr. Purcell, then president of that venerable in- 
stitution, welcomed him warmly, and pursuing his course 
with many who became famous in the church — one as 
the first American cardinal, another as Bishop of Chicago, 
another as Bishop of Brooklyn — he was ordained in 1837. 
When the Rev. Mr. Purcell was promoted to the 
See of Cincinnati, he urged the young priest, whose learn- 
ing, piety, and spirit of discipline he had noted, to ac- 
company him to the West. After spending tlu-ee years 



254 CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 

of labor in the Diocese of Cincinnati, in Canton, Carroll 
County, he was touched by an appeal of the Rt. E,ev. Dr. 
Miles, Bishop of Nashville, for missionaries, and at once 
responded to the call, well aware of the difficulty and 
hardship of the field. Bishop Purcell, though loth to 
part with a good, active, and zealous priest, finally con- 
sented, and Rev. Mr. McAleer went to Tennessee. There 
he and the Rev. John Maguire were appointed to travel 
together throughout the diocese, to preach in every town 
not already provided with a pastor, and to administer 
the holy sacraments to all who might apply to them. He 
was thus the first priest in our times to say mass or 
erect a church in Western Tennessee. He was at one 
time accompanied by the late Archbishop Spalding, then 
a missionary priest in Kentucky. Their discourses, pop- 
ular in style, full of solid and convincing argument, 
produced a decided impression on the clear Western minds, 
and prepared the way for future churches. Rev. Mr. Mc- 
Aleer soon erected a beautiful brick church at Memphis, 
of which he became the pastor, attending stations at a 
great distance — Fort Pickering, La Grange, Bolivar, Jack- 
son, and other points. Here, after some years, he was 
assisted by a Dominican Father, Thomas S. Alemany, 
now Archbishop of San Francisco. 

His reputation for learning had not been lost in this 
hard missionary work, and in 1846 he was selected by 
the Rt. Rev. Matthias Loras, Bishop of Dubuque, as his 



OHUEOH OF ST. COLUMBA. 255 

theologian, to accompany him to the Sixth Provincial 
Council of Baltimore, and he attended the sessions of that 
venerable body in that capacity. 

At its close he was received by Archbishop Hughes 
into his diocese, and assigned to the Church of St. 
Columba, then sadly in need of a priest who could save 
it from tln-eatened ruin. As we have seen, he cleared it 
of a load of debt that would have appalled most men ; 
remodeled the church edifice, rendering it more attractive 
to his people and more worthy of the dignity of our 
incomparable liturgy ; organized the schools for the Chi-is- 
tian education of the young, and has successfully labored 
to keep alive a spirit of faith and devotion. 

His zeal was shown in a remarkable manner dui-ing 
the terrible cholera season of 1849. His parish was 
especially afflicted by the fatal disease, and for weeks 
the devoted priest slept only on a sofa in the parlor, 
with his horse and wagon standing all night before his 
door, ready to carry him to any point of his district 
where a stricken Catholic claimed the consolations of 
religion. He was upheld almost supernatm-ally, facing 
the heat by day and want of sleep at night, in his 
faithful and untiring discharge of his duties. It is easy 
to conceive with what respect his flock regarded his 
devotion and corn-age. 

As he advanced in age, he was attacked by pneu- 
monia, which several times threatened to end his life. 



25(5 CATIiOLIO CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 

or, at least, his usefulness, but lie recovered completely, 
and still, in liis sixty-eig-lith year, is discliarging liis paro- 
chial duties with all the zeal of forty years ago. 

The rapid increase of population in that part of the 
city has made his duties as onerous as ever ; for, though 
parishes have been formed in the district originally as- 
signed to St. Columba's, the flock under his charge is 
greater than it was on the day of his appointment. 

During his long pastorate, Rev. ISir. McAleer has had 
several assistants — Rev. Francis Monaghan of the Diocese 
of Armagh (1846-8); Rev. James Cummiskey; Rev. 
Terence Scallan, who after several years' labor in city 
missions became pastor at Haverstraw ; Rev. Titus Joslin, 
a convert and author ; Rev. William H. Neligan, once a 
Protestant clergyman in Ireland and England, who em- 
braced the faith he had before earnestly opposed, and 
whose pen has em'iched our literature with many learned 
and devotional works ; Rev. H. O'Hara ; Rev. James T. 
Barry, and Rev. A. Molloy. The present assistants of 
the venerable pastor are the Rev. George C. Murphy 
and Rev. M. Montgomery. 



CHURCH OF ST. CYRILLUS AND ST. 
METHODIUS. 

(BOHEMIAN.) 
EAST FOURTH STREET. 



NEW YORK, in one respect, recalls Jerusalem on 
the day of Pentecost ; it lias among its Catho- 
lic population " devout men out of every nation imder 
heaven." To all these, each Catholic church is a home. 
The land, and the manners of the people, the stir and 
bustle of business, the rapid moving- of car and boat 
under the mighty impulse of steam, may all be strange; 
but before tlie altar of Clod, Avhen the Holy Sacrifice of the 
Mass is offered, or the Sacred Office is sung, or our Lord 
from the monstrance pours his blessing upon them, the 
feeling pervades their hearts that here they are at home. 
Yet even with this there comes the desire which the Holy 
Ghost on the day of Pentecost gratified by a miracle — 
the longing " fo hear in their own tongue, wherein they 
were born, the Avonderful works of God." 

There Avere temples in our city where, during mass, 
the gospel was preached in English, French, German, 
and Italian ; but the Bohemians wished to hear the words 

of salvation in their own language. In December, 1874, 
17 



258 CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 

they organized two religious societies — tliat of St. Wen- 
ceslaus and that of St. Ludmila. Thus brought to- 
gether, they found a priest of their nationaHty wilHng 
to devote himself esjDecially to them. 

This his Grace the Archbishop readily permitted, 
and the late Rev, Father Krebesz of St. Nicholas gener- 
ously placed the basement of that church at their disposal. 
A few months encouraged the pastor and his little flock 
to endeavor to secure a place especially for their own 
use. Such was the zeal and regularity shown by the 
Bohemians, that in March, 1875, the property 316 East 
Fourth Street, between Avenues C and D, was purchased 
for the sum of twelve thousand five hundred dollars, and 
blessed for use as a Catholic church under the invoca- 
tion of St. Cyrillus and St. Methodius. 

These two holy brothers — brothers according to the 
flesh and in spiritual life and missionary labors — were 
born at Thessalonica, of an illustrious senatorial family, 
and are regarded as the apostles of Bohemia, Moravia, 
Silesia, Croatia, Bulgaria, Bosnia, Russia, and almost 
all Slavonic nations, for whom they translated the liturgy 
into their own language. Borgias, King of the Bulgari- 
ans, Borivoj, Duke of Bohemia, and other princes of 
those parts, were won by them to the faith and love 
of Christ. Methodius was made by the Pope Archbishop 
of Moravia, but Cyril remained a simple monk. They 
died about the year 900, and their bodies were laid with 



CHURCH OF ST. CYRILLUS AND ST. METHODIUS. 259 

honor under the altar of a very ancient chapel in St. 
Clement's Church at Rome, as if to attest that the coun- 
tries where war has recently raged were converted by 
missionaries from the Eoman See. These saints set up 
at Bunzlau a statue of the Blessed Virgin, which was 
for centuries afterwards a place of pilgrimage, and was 
visited by St. John Nepomucene just before his mar- 
tyrdom. 

Soon after the modest church of these apostles of 
Eastern Europe was opened, the Rev. George Weidlich, 
who had done so good a work, found that his health 
was too much broken to' attempt to minister to the little 
flock he had gathered. 

The Rev. A. V. Vacula was then appointed priest of 
the Bohemians, and has since successfully administered 
the parish. Finding the building already too small for 
the congregation, he enlarged it at a cost of six thou- 
sand dollars, and thus had a commodious and more wor- 
thy church. On the 12th of December, 1875, it was 
solemnly dedicated by the Very Rev. William Quinn, 
Vicar General of the diocese, who delivered a sermon in 
English, and another in Bohemian was given by the Rev. 
A. V. Vacula. The High Mass was said by the Rev, 
Father Ivo Prass, the Superior of the Capuchins in New 
York, who attended with several Fathers of his com- 
munity. 

• The pastor felt that a school was indispensable, and 



260 CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 

in the early part of October opened one in the basement 
of liis churcli. The attendance, at first only twenty-five, 
soon increased to about a hundred, and has been con- 
tinued with success. 

Soon after the dedication the Rev. Mr. Vacula insti- 
tuted the St. Mary's Society for girls, and that of St. 
Aloysius for the boys of the congregation, to associate 
the younger members of his flock together in pious ex- 
ercises, that each should be a support to the other in 
the trials and temptations that beset the rising generation 
in a great city. 

In May, 1877, the Society of the Knights of St. Wen- 
ceslaus was originated. They attended a Solemn Mass on 
the 28th of September, when a beautiful flag was presented 
to the society by the pastor, and blessed by the Rev. Mr. 
Weyman of the Church of St. Stanislaus, several of the 
prominent members of the congregation being sponsors for 
the banner. 



CHUECH OF ST. OYRILLUS AND ST. METHODIUS. 261 



REV. A . V. VACULA, 

PASTOR OF THE CHURCH OF ST. CYRILLUS AND ST. METHODIUS. 



THE Eev. A. V. Vacula was born at Osek, Archdio- 
cese of Olmiitz, in Moravia, on the 15th of August, 
1845, and was educated at the gymnasium at Kremsier, 
from which he entered the University of Vienna in 1865. 
After two years spent there, he resolved to embrace the 
clerical state, and pursued his theological studies for three 
years in the University of Olmutz. Feeling called to de- 
vote himself to the American missions, he was sent to the 
American College at Louvain in 1869, and there ordained 
for the Diocese of Baltimore, on the 10th of September, 
1870, in the College of the Jesuit Fathers at Louvain. 

At the desire of his parents, he returned to his 
native city and said his first mass in the Church of 
the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, and during the tem- 
porary illness of the parish priest and his assistant, offi- 
ciated for two months 

He then came to this country, arriving December 1, 
1870. Repairing to Baltimore, he was placed by the late 
Archbishop Spalding in charge of a congregation, and 
erected the Church of St. Wenceslaus, on Central Avenue, 



262 CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 

above Baltimore Street, which, was dedicated hj the late 
Bishop Verot of St, Augustine, May 20th, 1872. 

The Eev. Mr. Vacula ministered to tliis congregation 
of Bohemians for about two years. He was then for a 
year chaplain of the Baltimore University Hospital. After 
this first' exercise of the ministry in the Diocese of Balti- 
more he came to New York, and was appointed to the 
Church of St. Cyrillus and St. Methodius, on the 27th of 
September, 1875. 

His active zeal has done much to mould the Httle 
congregation of Bohemian Cathohcs into an earnest and 
devoted body, their faith being kept alive by pious as- 
sociations and the influence of the schools. 

Their present prosperity, if not the origin of their 
church, is due, in no small degree, to the patience and 
the intelligent zeal of the clergyman who now fills the 
responsible position of pastor in this church. 




CHURCH OF SAINT ELIZABETH. 

WEST ONE HUNDRED AND THIKTY-SEVENTH STEEET. 



THE CHURCHES OE SAINT ELIZABETH AND 

SAINT JOHN. 

FORT WASHINGTON AND KINGSBRIDGE. 



FORT WASHINGTON recalls by its name the strug- 
gle in the days of the Revolution, when Magaw's 
and Shea's regiments of the Pennsylvania line, which num- 
bered many Irish Catholics, so stubbornly held out against 
an overwhelming English force. As a part of our island 
where Catholic blood flowed in the cause of American 
Independence, it was well that it should be hallowed by 
religious associations ; that the noblest worship ever offered 
to the Almighty might there bind us with our fellow- 
believers of the days that tried men's souls. 

In 1869, the Most Reverend Archbishop established 
the parochial district of Fort Washington, embracing the 
northern spur of the island to the other side of that stream 
which still retains the name associated with the legends of 
the Dutch epoch. 

This district was confided to the Rev. Cornelius J. 
O'Callaghan, who took the preliminary steps to gather the 
Cathohc population, saying mass in the public school- 
houses at Fort Washington and Spuyten Duyvil. The 
Catholic population was mainly in two bodies, somewhat 



CHURCHES OF ST. ELIZABETH AND ST. JOHN. 265 

widely separated, and it was not easy to fix upon a 
central location that would be convenient to both. Diffi- 
culties seemed to discourage the priest first assigned to 
this mission, but in October, 1870, the Rev. Henry A. 
Brann, D.D., whose scholarly instincts and tastes seem to 
stimulate his activity in parochial labors, and especially in 
that creative power often so necessary to a clergyman 
who finds himself in a parish without a roof to cover his 
head or shield the altar he must rear to the Most High. 
He was to complete, by dedicating to the service of God 
the upper end of Manhattan Island, the work begun at 
the Battery by the Jesuit Fathers two centuries before. 

The more pressing want seemed to be in the portion 
of his district near Kingsbridge, and to this point he 
gave his first care. He enlarged by purchase the site 
already obtained, and at once began to erect a modest 
frame church, which was speedily completed, at a cost of 
about ten thousand dollars, and in a few months after his 
anival he could request his Grace the Most Reverend 
Archbishop to honor him and his little flock by solemnly 
dedicating it to the worship of the Holy Trinity. The 
Archbishop, who had blessed so many fine ecclesiastical 
structures, did not decline, and on the 4th of December, 
1870, the little Church of St. John at Kingsbridge was 
dedicated according to the Roman ritual. The Rev. Mr. 
McNeimy, now Bishop of Albany, sang the High Mass, 
Manhattan College contributing to the solemnity of the oc- 



266 



CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 



casion by its band, which formed the choir. The Arch- 
bishop delivered one of his ever-happy and edifying ser- 
mons, that Hnger Hke a sweet memory for years, associ- 
ated with the occasions on which they are pronounced. 
The heavenly dove had found a nest for herself where 
she might gather her young ones. 

Under the care of Dr. Brann a congi'egation of 
about four hundred now worship in this church, and about 
thirty-six are yearly brought to the baptismal font to be 
added to the flock of Christ. 

The other portion of his district would require a 
church of greater size, and there were evidences that 
means would not be withheld to give Catholicity there a 
church that would not reflect on the generosity of her 
children. Dr. Brann was fortunate in obtaining a spot 
suitable for his purpose near the Hudson, the old Rio San 
Antonio de las Montanas. On One Hundred and Eighty- 
seventh Street and Broadway he laid the foundation of 
the Church of St. Elizabeth. This tasteful and beautiful 
edifice of brick with Ohio brown stone facings is fifty-four 
feet in front by a depth of one hundred and twenty-five 
feet, and is liighly creditable to Mr. N. Le Brun, the 
architect. The interior adornment, and the altar with its 
tabernacle, are pure in taste, and inspire the devotional 
feeling befittmg a sacred edifice. 

The Most Rev. Dr. McCloskey again honored the 
parish of Fort Washington by coming, on the 14th of 



OHUECHES OF ST. ELIZABETH AND ST. JOHN. 267 

January, 1872, to dedicate this church to St. Elizabeth. 
After the water, blessed with holy rite, had been sprink- 
led on the walls, and the dedication services been per- 
formed, the Rt. Rev. Bishop McNeirny sang the Pligh 
Mass, the sanctuary being graced by the Rt. Rev. Bishop 
Corrigan of Newark and many of the priests of the city. 
The Church of St. Francis Xavier gave its choir, with 
the famous Dr. William Berge as director, to honor the 
new church. After the gospel, the Rt. Rev. Bernard J. 
McQuaid, Bishop of Rochester, preached the dedication 
sermon, riveting the attention of the faithful, who crowded 
the sacred edifice. 

The ground for the Church of St. Elizabeth — a name 
that recalls at once the holy mother of the Precursor of 
our Lord, and of dear St. Elizabeth of Hungary, and her 
holy niece, St. Elizabeth of Portugal — Avas given by 
Joseph Fisher and the late James Gordon Bennett. It is 
eighty feet in front by one hundred and sixty-four feet in 
depth, at the corner of One Hundred and Eighty-seventh 
Street and Broadway. The church found liberal benefactors. 
Charles O'Conor, Esq., gave ten thousand dollars toward 
the erection of the sacred edifice, James Gordon Bennett 
five thousand, Joseph Fisher two thousand. The main 
altar is the gift of the two daughters of Mr. Fisher; 
the marble altar at the side was presented by Mrs. 
Paul R. G. Pery. The altar-piece, painted by May, the 
American artist, after Murillo's Immaculate Conception, 



268 CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NP]W YORK. 

was given by tlie present James Gordon Bennett. All 
the stained-glass windows were presented. That in the 
sanctuary was given by Mrs. Charles M. Connolly ; the 
front window, a memorial of the Rev. John Kelly of 
Jersey City, was presented by Eugene Kelly, Esq. 

The church, with the rectory, cost about a hundred 
thousand dollars, and is one of the most elegant on 
the island — indeed, one of the few in which individual 
contributions have formed a considerable part of the 
cost. 

Thus, in less than two years, the Rev. Dr. Brann 
had, in the district which he found churchless, reared two 
temples of our holy religion, giving the faithful all the 
advantages enjoyed by other parts of the island. Pie 
made his residence at St. Elizabeth's, visiting every Sun- 
day and holiday the Church of St. John, to offer mass 
there. 

He then built on the ground adjoining St. Elizabeth's 
a rectory, a fine three-stor}^ building Avitli a Mansard roof, 
so that for years the parisli will need no additional outlay 
for church or parochial residence. 

Since he assumed the direction of the parish. Dr. Brann 
has been assisted by the Rev. Mr. Lynch, now at Sau- 
gerties. Rev. Francis Micene, Rev. Greorge M. Schrader, 
D.D., and the present curate, the Rev. Daniel J. McCor- 
mick. 

The congregation of the church does not yet exceed 



CHURCHES OF ST. ELIZABETH AND ST. JOHN. 269 

six hundred, but St. Elizabeth will stand for years and 
see its aisles crowded to excess. The baptisms number 
annually about thirty-six. 

The parish is not without those pious and beneficent 
societies which meet what seems to be a general want; 
and when not gratified in the Church, leave many ex- 
posed to be drawn into bodies whose form or object is 
subject to ecclesiastical censure. 

The societies attached to the Churches of St. Eliza- 
beth and St. John are the Confraternity of the Sacred 
Heart, the Rosary Society, and Temperance Societies. 
The Sunday-schools are Avell sustained and number more 
than three hundred and fifty pupils. 

The future of New York City, no one, of course, 
can foresee. Some incline to think that she has reached 
the highest point of greatness, and may decline. Others 
see nothing to check the career of progress in Avhich 
she has moved for so many years. 

Catholicity has more than grown with her growth. 
The Christian body which a century ago had no priest, 
no altar, no church, no organized congregation, has her 
sacred edifices dotting the island from Barclay Street to 
Kingsbridge. A dense population may yet gather in 
the upper part of the island beyond the Central Park, 
and the parochial district of Fort Washington be divided 
among a number of churches, requiring many priests to 
fulfill the mission labor incumbent on the clergy. 



270 



CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 



R 



OLL OF 



H 



ONOR 



CHURCH OF ST. ELIZABETH. 



Ahem, Timothy. 
Barry, Patrick. 



Donovan, James. 
Duane, Thomas. 



McGinn, Mrs. 
McGrane, Mrs. 



Barry, William. 


Duke, Thomas. 


Mclvors, S. 


' 


Bergin, L. 


Ecclesine, T. C. E. 


McKeon, Matthew. 




Bradley, Daniel. 


Fenton, Thomas. 


Maloney, Joseph. 




Brady, P. J. 


Finn, Michael. 


Maloy, John. 




Britt, William. 


Flynn, Ann. 


Meehan, James. 




Brophy, Michael. 


Foley, John. 


Meehan, Patrick. 




Carney, Patrick. 


Haynes, Daniel. 


Murray, Bernard. 




Carroll, Michael. 


Hourigan, Timothy. 


O'Conor, Charles. 




Chase, Nelson, Mrs. 


Johnson, Mrs. 


O'Hallaran, J. 




Cody, James. 


Kane, L. 


O'Hara, Mrs. 




Connelly J. S., Mrs. 


King, James. 


Russell, James. 




Connelly, Chas. M., Mrs. 


Loughrane, Michael. 


Rogers, Mrs. 




Corbit, John. 


McCaffery, Thomas. 


Scallon, Ann, Mrs. 




Corkery, Daniel. 


McCarthy, J. 


Scallon, Bridget, Mrs. 




Coughlin, P. 


McCormac, Hugh. 


Whelan, 'Mrs. 




Crowley, Edward. 


McDonald, Barthol. 


Winters, Patrick. 




Devlin, John. 


McDonald, William. 




* 




-^r^/Snuvuy 



CHUECHES GF ST. ELIZABETH AND ST. JOHN. 271 

REV. HENRY A. BRANN, D.D., 

PASTOE OF ST. ELIZABETH'S AND ST. JOHN'S. 



REV. HENRY A. BRANN, D.D., the present pas- 
tor of Fort WasMngton and Kingsbridge, was 
born on August 15, 1837, in Parkstown, County Meath, 
Ireland. He came as a boy to this country with his 
parents. His classical studies were made in St. Mary's 
College, Wilmington, Delaware, and in St. Francis Xa- 
vier's College, West Fifteenth Street, New York, where he 
was graduated in 1857. He was originally intended for 
the law; but an accident in which he was nearly killed, 
by the falling of a house in Jersey City, during a 
thunder-storm, turned his mind to the more holy calling 
of the priesthood. He went to the Seminary of St. 
Sulpice, Paris, in the fall of 1857, where he remained 
three years. He then went to the American College, 
Rome, and was ordained its first priest by Cardinal 
Patrizzi, on June 14, 1862. 

Dr. Brann, on arriving from Rome, in August, 1862, 
was appointed Vice-President of Seton Hall College, and 
Professor of Dogmatic Theology in the seminary con- 
nected with it. This position he held for two years. 
He then became assistant in St. Mary's, and afterwards in 
St. Peter's Chm-ch, Jersey City. He was appointed pas- 



272 CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YOKK. 

tor of Fort Lee in May, 1866. In this parish he built 
the Churcli of St. Ceciha, Eng-lewood, and the Chui'ch of 
the Holy Trinity, Hackensack. In August, 1867, during 
the absence of Bishop Bayley in Europe, he came to 
New York and joined the Paulist Fathers. At the itrgent 
entreaty of the late Bishop Whelan, he went to him as 
Director of the Seminary and preacher of the cathedral 
in Wheeling, Avhere he remained for two years. Return- 
ing to New York, the Cardinal ajjpointed him, in Octo- 
ber, 1870, to succeed the Rev. Cornelius O'Callaghan as 
pastor of Fort Washington and Kingsbridge. Besides 
building churches, Dr. Brann has, written many essays, 
lectures, and translations published in various reviews and 
magazines. He has also 's'N^ritten two metaj^hysical works — 
"Curious Questions," and "Truth and Error." A transla- 
tion of the Abbe Hulot's very severe book on " Danc- 
ing," published by Donahoe of Boston ; and a translation 
of Toepfifer's pretty little novelette, called " The Inherit- 
ance," published by Sadlier of New York, are among the 
earliest productions of Dr. Brann's pen. 




CHURCH OF THE EPIPHANY. 

X8 SECOND AVENUE. 



CHURCH OF THE EPIPHANY OF OUR LORD. 

SECOND AVENUE. 



SINCE his promotion to tlie See of New York, 
his Eminence Cardinal McCloskey has labored to 
increase the number of the city churches, to relieve 
those already existing, which had become overcrowded at 
every mass. By reducing the size of the parochial dis- 
tricts, the clergy could better attend to the wants of the 
faithful, and learn to know not only those who came 
spontaneously to the offices of the Church and the duties 
of religion, but also the careless and indifferent — those 
lured away by a false pride or tempted by the wretched 
proselytizers who traffic in men's souls. 

Carrying out this plan, he laid off as a new parish 
the district between Broadway and the East River, ex- 
tending from the northerly side of Fourteenth Street to 
the southerly side of Twenty-fourth Street. The Rev. 
Dr. R. L. Burtsell asked permission to begin in this 
field the mission work for which he had shown himself 
eminently fitted while acting as assistant at St. Ann's 
Church. He was accordingly assigned to it in 1868, and 
having obtained a lease of the hall and basement of the 
Demilt Dispensary, situated on the corner of Twenty- 



CHURCH OF THE EPIPHANY OF OUR LORD. 275 

third Street and Second Avenue, fitted it up as a chapel, 
and inaugurated the parish on the eve of Epiphany, Jan- 
uary 5th, 1868, by celebrating High Mass. 

Zealously discharging his duty to the flock here 
gathered, and to whom he ministered in this temporary 
chapel for two years, he began to collect means for the 
purchase of land and the erection of a suitable church. 
Heading the list with his own subscription of one thou- 
sand dollars, he found many ready to contribute to the 
good work and loth to be outdone by him in charity. 
Money flowed in so that in one year his collections 
amounted to $44,545 — St. Stephen's, St. Ann's, and the 
Church of the Immaculate Conception generously aiding 
the good work. 

In 1868 seven lots were purchased — three on Second 
Avenue, for thirty-seven thousand five hundred dollars, 
and subsequently, to increase the length of the sacred 
edifice, three additional lots on Twenty-second Street and 
one on Twenty-first Street. The foundation was traced out 
for a church to front on Second Avenue. The founda- 
tion walls soon began to rise, to the joy of the people, 
and every preparation was made to invest the laying of 
the corner-stone with interest. On the appointed day, 
May 30, 1869, the scene around the new church was 
picturesque in the extreme. Flags and banners were hung 
out on all sides. Crowds gathered in dense masses, 
societies from many different churches coming to honor 



276 



CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YOKK. 



the occasion ; but when the procession appeared, led by 
the Sodality of the Holy Angels — a hundred young maidens 
in spotless white — all was hushed; after the processional 
cross and tapers came the acolytes, a numerous atten- 
dance of clergy, and the mitred Ai'chbishop bearing his 
crosier. In this order they moved to the platform where 
the future altar was to stand. Then with Very Rev. 
William Starrs, V.G., as assistant. Dr. McS weeny as 
deacon, and Eev. Mr. Loughran as subdeacon, the cere- 
monial began, and the circuit of the new church was 
made, the chant of the ancient psalm, Quam Dilecta, re- 
sponded by the attendant clergy. After the prayer Domine 
Deus, the Ai-chbishop blessed the corner-stone and recited 
the collect asking God to confirm the stone thus laid in 
His name. Then he sprinkled it with holy water and 
traced crosses ujoon its sm'face. After the Litany of the 
Saints and the appropriate 126th Psalm, a box containing 
memorials was placed beneath the stone, including a parch- 
ment thus inscribed : " Pio Nono Summo Pontifice, uni- 
versam ecclesiam Dei regente, Provinciarum Foederatarmn 
Americse Septentrionalis Ulysse S. Grant, Prseside, Joanne 
T. Hoffman Provincise Neo Eboracensis Gubernatore; 
Urbis prsefecto A. Oakey Hall ; Illmus ac Revmus Joan- 
nes McCloskey, Archiepiscopus Neo Eboracensis, templi 
sub invocatione Epiphanise Domini Nostri Jesu Christi et 
protectione SS. Magorum, curse pastorali Richardi L. Burt- 
sell commissi, oratore Rev. Guglielmo Morrogh, die 30mo 



I 



CHURCH OF THE EPIPHANY OF OUR LORD. 277 

Maij, auspice Maria Virgine, anno salutis 1869 primum 
lapidem in fundamentum posuit." 

Then the stone was laid in its place with prayer 
and again sprinkled with holy water, and the procession 
moved on with solemn chant. 

An eloquent discourse was then delivered by the 
Rev. Dr. Morrogh, in which he noted especially the pe- 
culiar and beautiful title of the Epiphany, which the 
church was to bear. Then, with the blessing of the 
Most Reverend Archbishop, the vast crowd retired. 

The church thus auspiciously begun under the protec- 
tion of the Three Holy Kings — Gaspar, Melchior, and 
Balshasar, as tradition has given their names — went 
rapidly up, thi'ough the quickening zeal of the pastor. 

It was to be of no mean proportions, with a front of 
sixty-six feet on Second Avenue, and a corresponding depth 
of one hundred and forty-five feet. The style of archi- 
tecture adopted was the Lombard, which in its purest forms 
was produced in northern Italy in the twelfth and thir- 
teenth centmies. It has seldom been copied in this coun- 
try, but the selection justifies the taste of the clergyman. 

The basement story is of Quincy granite, and the 
superstructure of Ohio and Belleville sandstone. The 
tower at the south-east angle is surmounted by a cross, 
which is one hundred and twenty-five feet above the 
basement. A wide flight of steps leads up gradually to 
a wide porch, twelve feet deep and thirty feet long, sup- 



278 CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 

ported upon arcade piers and giving access to the nave. 
The interior will seat sixteen hundred and fifty persons, 
and accommodate comfortably two thousand. With the 
usual series of masses on Sundays and holidays, all the 
faithful in the parish are thus enabled to fulfill the ab- 
solute obligation of hearing mass. 

The architect, Mr. N. Le Brun, succeeded in combin- 
ing great elegance with the requirements of the parish, 
making it commodious without marring its beauty, and 
truly ecclesiastical in its general scope and in the more 
minute details. 

Nothing occurred to thwart the pious desires of the 
priest and people. The Church of the Epiphany rose 
like a beautiful tree, showing that with God's blessing 
they had not labored in vain that built it. 

The solemn dedication took place on the 3d of 
April, 1870. The Very Rev. William Starrs, Vicar Gen- 
eral of the diocese, officiated, assisted by the Rev. Messrs. 
Burtsell, Loughran, McSweeny, McGlynn, McCarthy, Healy, 
Bodfish, and others representing the clergy of the diocese. 
After making the circuit of the chiu'ch without, the pro- 
cession, led by the Sodality of the Blessed Virgin, en- 
tered the main door and moved up the middle aisle, 
chanting the Litany of the Saints. Again the long line 
passed around the walls of the church within, sprinkling 
and blessing it, and the celebrant concluded the cere- 
monial with the prayer of dedication. 



CHURCH OF THE EPIPHANY OF OUR LORD. 279 

Then the altar was adorned, and the Rev. Dr. Mc- 
Glynn of St. Stephen's Chui'ch offered a Solemn High 
Mass, with Dr. McSweeny as deacon and the Rev. Mr. 
Loughran of the Epiphany as subdeacon. The sermon 
was preached by the Rev. Thomas S. Preston of St. 
Ann's Church, taking as his text the words of the Wise 
Men, those sainted Kings of the East: "Where is he 
that is born King of the Jews? For we have seen his 
star in the east and have come to adore him." Unfold- 
ing the lessons taught by the faith and courage of these 
holy pilgrims, he appealed to his hearers to make use 
of the additional opportunity now held out to them to 
live a life of grace and walk constantly in the fear of 
God; to be Catholics in fact — not in name alone, but in 
practice — and thus to do their part in stemming the tide 
of infidelity that tkreatens to undermine the Christian 
Church, and to do all in their power to save this, the 
land of their love — for whose prosperity they would will- 
ingly lay down their lives — from the terrible consequences 
that ensue to every nation that forgets God and spurns 
His divine law. 

The parish is still under the care of the Rev. Dr. 
Bm-tsell, who has been assisted from time to time by 
other priests, among whom may be mentioned the Rev. 
P. Loughran, who was curate for about eight years. 

In 1869, a parochial free school was inaugm'ated in 
a house, 236 East Twenty-second Street, belonging to the 



280 CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 

church. About thi-ee hundred and thirty scholars attended. 
Owing to the great expenses of the erection of the church, 
the school was discontinued after a severe struggle of 
three years. 

Not to allow the childi'en's religious education to be 
neglected, in September, 1873, a more thorough system 
was inaugurated in regard to the Sunday-school, at which 
some nine hundred children had been in regular attend- 
ance since the formation of the parish. For this purpose 
Christian doctrine classes were formed on three evenings 
dm-ing the week, from seven to eight o'clock. 

On Tuesday, the pastor gave an instruction to all 
childi'en who had been confirmed and were over fourteen. 

On Wednesday, one of the assistant priests instructed 
the girls between ten and fourteen years. 

On Thursday, the other assistant priest instructed the 
boys between ten and fourteen years. 

This system has been found very successful. Of the 
six hundred childi-en that attend these classes, upwards 
of three hundred and fifty are monthly communicants, 
and the regularity and attendance at the classes have 
increased each year. 

In February, 1871, the Redemptorists gave a mission 
of three weeks. About six thousand approached the sac- 
raments. In February, 1874, the Dominicans gave a 
three weeks' mission, hearing about five thousand five 
hundred confessions. And in February, 1877, the Paulists, 



CHURCH OF THE EPIPHANY OF OUR LORD. 281 

in a two weeks' mission, enabled about five thousand to 
approach the Holy Table. 

In 1876, R. L. Burtsell paid a visit to the Holy 
See, and, in an audience with the Holy Father, Pius IX., 
obtained a special plenary indulgence for the parish of 
the Epiphany; and in Lyons, France, purchased splendid 
church vestments, superior to any known in the United 
States, for the Church of the Epiphany, 

In the year 1868, the pastor. Dr. Burtsell, made a 
personal census of parishioners, taking all the adults' 
names and the number of the children, and found within 
the parish limits nine thousand nine hundred and sixty- 
eight Catholics. The parish limits then extended from 
the north side of Eighteenth Street to the south side of 
Twenty-fourth Street, from Fourth Avenue to the East 
River. About 1876 the parish was extended to Broadway. 
Hence at the present day, owing to the extension of the 
parish limits and accession of Catholics to the district, 
the parish of the Epiphany holds probably at present 
about eleven thousand Catholics. 

The exterior of the church is one hundred and forty- 
five feet long by seventy-five feet front-, the interior is 
about one hundred and thirty feet long by sixty-three 
feet wide, and has a seating capacity of one thousand 
six hundred and fifty persons ; admitting about five hun- 
dred and fifty more standing. 



282 



CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 



R 



OLL OF 



H 



ONOR, 



CHURCH OF THE EPIPHANY OF OUR LORD. 



Ahem, Philip. 
Bergin, Thomas. 
Boyle, Richard. 
Brady, Marcus. 
Brady, Terence. 
Brannigan, James. 
Capper, Edward J. 
Carroll, John M. 
Cooke, Charles. 
Corrigan, John. 
Cotteleer, Ann, Mrs. 
Courtney, Patrick. 
Coyle, Patrick. 
Creeden, Timothy J. 
Cronan, John. 
Delaney, James. 
Delaney, Dennis. 
Delany, Daniel. 
Dempsey, Owen. 
Donohue, John. 
Donohue, Timothy. 
Donovan, Michael. 
Duane, John E. 
Duffy, John. 
Farrell, Michael J, 
Fitzgibbon, Michael. 



Fitzgibbons, Morris. 
Fitzsimons, Garrett. 
Fox, Ann. 
Generty, Joseph. 
Goodwin, Samuel. 
Graban, Henry. 
Green, Edward. 
Hanley, John T. 
Kedian, James. 
Kelly, Lewis J., Mrs. 
Kelly, Patrick. 
Keveny, Martin J. 
Kiernan, Hugh. 
Lannigan, James. 
Ledwith, Edward. 
McCarthy, John. 
McCauly, Francis. 
McCluskey, Joseph. 
McCormick, Patrick. 
McDermott, Patrick. 
McDonald, Edward. 
McDonald, John. 
McDonnell, Ann, Mrs. 
McGann, Patrick. 
McGuiness, Denis. 
Maheer, Eliza. 
!Nioore, James. 



Moore, Jane, Mrs. 
Mullane, John. 
Murtagh, Patrick. 
O'Brien, Francis. 
O'Brien, Richard. 
O'Brien, William. 
O'Connor, Charles. 
O'Connor, David. 
O'Connor, Joseph G. 
O'Neil, Charles. 
O'Neil, Cornelius. 
Pagan, William. 
Power, John. 
Purcell, James. 
Purcell, Francis R. 
Reilly, James. 
Reisenweber, George C. 
Rourke, Francis. 
Scanlon, John. 
Smith, Peter. 
Tiraoney, John. 
Trainor, James J. 
Torpey, William. 
Tynan, Laughlin. 
Ward, John. 
Willis, Edward. 



CHURCH OF THE EPIPHANY OF OUR LORD. 283 



THE REV. RICHARD LALOR BURTSELL, 

PASTOR OF THE CHURCH OF THE EFIFHAJSfY. 



RICHARD LALOR BURTSELL was born April 14, 
1840, in New York City, and baptized in St. 
Mary's Church by the Rev. Walter Quarter, receiving the 
name of Richard Lalor in remembrance of his paternal 
grand-uncle. 

His father, John Low Burtsell, was of a family 
resident in New York City for over a century ; whose 
mother, Mary Lalor, was a cousin of the Miss Lalor 
who introduced the Visitation nuns into the United States. 

His mother, Dorothea Morrogh, of Cork City, Ire- 
land, was related by blood to the O'Donoghues and by 
kinship to the O'Connells of Kerry; and on her mother's 
side related to the Plowdens of Shropshire, England, 
known for their staunch adherence to the Catholic faith 
since the Reformation of Henry VIII. Her grandfather, 
Francis Plowden, wrote the " History of Ireland." 

R. L. Burtsell, about 1847, went to the school of 
the Sisters of Charity attached to St. Peter's Church in 
Barclay Street, then to the French school attached to St. 
Vincent de Paul's in Canal Street; about 1849 to the 
Jesuits' College in Third Avenue, and continued to attend 



284 CATHOLIC OHITRCHES OF NEW YORK. 

it when it was transfeiTed to Fifteenth Street; in 1851 
he proceeded to the Sulpitian College, Montreal, Canada. 
To complete his theological course he was sent, in 1853, 
to the College of the Propaganda in Rome, Italy, as 
convictor. He became an alumnus of the Propaganda in 
1857 ; there he took the degree of Doctor of Philoso- 
phy in 1858, and the degree of Doctor of Theology in 
1862 ; was ordained priest in the Church of the Propa- 
ganda by Mgr. Clementi, Archbishop of Damascus, in 
partibus infidelium, and Nuncio to Mexico, on August 10th, 
1862. He said first mass on the Feast of the Assump- 
tion following. On August 17th, he was admitted to a 
private audience of the Holy Father, Pius IX., who, 
after granting many privileges, gave him also a special 
blessing, in his own handwriting, in these words : " Dom- 
inus dirigat gressus tuos, aud sit semper in ore tuo." 
(May the Lord guide thy steps, and be always on thy 
lips.) The Rev. Dr. Bm-tsell left Rome for the United 
States on August 20th, 1862, and on arriving in his 
native country was, in November, 1862, appointed as- 
sistant at St. Ann's Church, Astor Place. 

In 1876 the Rev. Dr. Burtsell j^aid a visit to Rome, 
and in an audience with the Holy Father obtained a 
special plenary indulgence for the parish of Epiphany. 




CHURCH OF SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSIST. 

WEST THIRTY-FIEST STREET. 



CHURCH OF SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISL 

THIETY-FIEST STREET, BETWEEN SIXTH AND SEVENTH AVENUES. 



THE Church of St. John the Baptist had been es- 
tabhshed on the western side of the city for the 
Cathohcs near the banks of the Hudson, but tares had 
been sown among the wheat ; dissensions and a want of 
harmony retarded the progress of the faith, and proved 
a stumbHng-block to many. This finally led to a division 
of the congregation. In the year 1844, the pastor of St. 
John's, the Rev. Father Zachary Kunz of the Order of St. 
Francis, from the Province of the Immaculate Conception 
in Hungary, resolved to establish a new church where 
part of the old congregation might find more consola- 
tion and peace. The Most Reverend Archbishop approved 
the project, and Father Kunz prepared to begin a ncAv 
church. A fitting lot was soon procured in Thirty-first 
Street, between Sixth and Seventh Avenues. 

The corner-stone was laid in the year 1844, with the 
usual ceremonies, and a modest but solid little church was 
erected before the end of summer, and it was solemnly 
dedicated to the service of Almighty God on the 1st day 
of August, under the invocation of the seraphic St. Francis 
of Assisi, the holy founder of the Friars Minor. The Right 



CHURCH OF ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI. 287 

Rev. John McCloskey, the coadjutor bishop, officiated, as- 
sisted by the pastor and several other clergymen. After 
the rite of dedication a sermon was delivered by the Rev. 
Father Rumpler, in German, followed by a discoiu-se in 
English by the prelate still among us, whom we are proud 
to honor as a Cardinal of the Holy Church. 

It was well indeed in our great commercial city, 
where men are so can'ied away by the insane desire for 
wealth that they lose religion, honor, and honesty, to have 
proposed as a model one who, in an age when trade 
seemed to absorb all minds, renounced the A^'^ealth of his 
father, a merchant prince of his day, and all the flatter- 
ing future before him, to become poor and hmiible for 
Clirist's sake. 

John Bemardon obtained the name of Francis from 
his early proficiency in French, acquired to insure gi'eater 
success in conducting trade with France. Brought up in 
wealth, taught to look forward to wealth, he early felt to 
use it only to relieve the poor, and sought to become 
poor to follow Our Lord, who was the poorest of the 
poor. Rejected by his father, he devoted liimself to the 
care of the sick, and to repairing churches by soliciting 
alms. He thus repaired the little chiuch of Our Lady of 
the Angels, Portiuncula, which became his residence. Here 
others joined him, and the Order of Friars Minor arose 
on the 16th of August, 1209. It has filled the world 
with the odor of its virtues, its many saints in all orders 



288 CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 

and ranks. To America it gave some of its earliest and 
most devoted missionaries. They were among tlie first 
and noblest pioneers of the faith in our territory ; more 
than half the heroic men who laid down their lives for 
the faith within the limits of the United States having 
been sons of St. Francis of Assisi. 

If the Saint loved poverty, he must have loved the 
church in his honor in our city, for its early history is 
a history of struggle and poverty. Yet it had consola- 
tions. On the 10th of September, 1847, the eve of the 
feast of St. Francis, the Rt. Rev. Bishop Hughes blessed 
a bell for the church, thenceforth to ring out the An- 
gelus. It was the third Catholic bell in the city, and 
the second to ring the thrice daily devotion of Catho- 
licity. The next day the Bishop gave confirmation to a 
hundred children of the parish. A procession met him 
outside the door of the church, the members of the 
Third Order of St. Francis, with lighted tapers. 

Its reverend founder, Father Zacharias, continued to 
administer its affairs till 1848, when he was succeeded 
by the Rev. Father Alexander Martin, of the same order, 
who, after spending several years in the Holy Land, and 
especially in the Church of the Holy Sepulclu-e at Jeru- 
salem, came to this country. He was a pious and devoted 
priest, and during the prevalence of the cholera nearly 
fell a victim to it — the Rev. Mr. Bayley, afterwards 
Archbishop of Baltimore, calhng one day on him, found 



CHURCH OF ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI. 289 

him in a state of collapse. Overcoming some of the 
difficulties, he began to enlarge the front of the church, 
retaining the rear portion of the old structure till better 
times should enable this to be rebuilt in a better and 
more enduring form. By this enlargement he gained 
much space for the accommodation of his parishioners, 
who, as the buildings increased in that part of the city, 
began to fill the church beyond its means ; the devo- 
tion of many English-sj)eaking Catholics to the great 
St. Francis and his order, leading them to make this 
church their special resort. 

The church, as thus enlarged and renovated so as 
to be a commodious edifice sixty-four feet wide by one 
hundi'ed and fifty in depth, was solemnly dedicated by 
his Grace Archbishop Hughes, on Monday, March 28th, 
1853. 

The Rev. Father Alexander retired in the year 1855, 
and the Most Reverend Archbishop appointed as pastor 
the Rev. C. Frederic Rudolph, a priest of the Diocese of 
Mentz in Germany. He directed the parish till 1864, and 
was much respected and beloved by the faithful under 
his charge. Zealous to add to the dignity of divine 
worship, he erected a spire on the church, and gave it 
tliree bells, whose chimes should ring out the Angelus 
and call the faithful to the service of the Almighty. 

The death of Rev. Mr. Rudolph, in his fifty-ninth 

year, June 15, 1864, left the church without a pas- 
19 



290 CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 

tor, and as the Franciscans had so increased in the 
United States, especially since their introduction from 
Italy into Western New York as to form a province, 
the Most Reverend Archbishop McCloskej resolved to 
confide the church to the order founded by its holy 
patron. The Provincial, then the learned Rev. Father 
Pamfilo da Magliano, known as an ecclesiastical writer 
and prudent superior, accepted the charge, and selected 
the Rev. Father Andrew Pfeififer, O.S.F., to assume the 
direction of the church, which, then became really Fran- 
ciscan. He was also Guardian of the Convent, in which, 
from time to time, other Fathers came to labor under 
him. 

One of the first efforts of Father Andrew was to 
put the parochial schools on a better basis. There had 
been a school for boys ; to this he gave new life, and 
for the girls he introduced into his parish the Missionary 
Sisters of the Third Order of St. Francis, three of 
whom arrived from Tyrol on the 5th of December, 1866, 
to begin their good work. For them he erected a suit- 
able home adjoining the church, at No. 99 West Thirty- 
first Street. The first year they could report one 
hundred and twenty-seven girls, the pupils in the boys' 
school numbering eighty. Their pupils now number more 
than three hundred girls, and the department for the 
boys, under a Brother of the Third Order, shows a simi- 
lar increase. ■• 



CHURCH OF ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI. 291 

In 1870 the Rev. Eugene Dikovich became Guar- 
dian of the Franciscan Convent and pastor of St. Francis. 
He renovated the church, both exterior and interior, and 
hopes soon to replace the still existing part of the old 
edifice by a more worthy structure. 

The congregation is not by any means a large one, 
nor does it number many on whom Providence has 
showered wealth with a hand of profusion ; but they 
generally feel that their patron saint should be honored 
in this great city by an edifice grander in its propor- 
tions and design. 

This they hope in time to accomplish, and with the 
self-sacrificing body of clergy at their head, this great 
result will probably be attained ere many years have 
passed. 

But whatever the future may bring forth, the pres- 
ent pastor feels it incumbent on him to do all in his 
power to render the church and all its appurtenances 
fitted to accomplish all that any parish can require. 

In this view he has already done much to show 
that the Church of St. Francis is fully sensible of every 
want and prepared to meet it. With a congregation thus 
holding up the pastor's hands, half the battle is already 
won. Aided by the generosity of his flock, the Rev. 
Eugene Dikovich has added a new and fine organ, to 
give the music of the church due solemnity and effect 
in the various offices of religion. He has also erected 



292 CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 

a new parochial school-house, adapted to the wants of liis 
parish, and well supjDlied with all requisites. 

This church has connected with it the Third Order 
of St. Francis, a religious order instituted by St. Francis 
for persons living- in the world. It is termed the Third 
Order — that of the Friars Minor being the first ; that of 
the Nuns or Poor Clares being the second. It has been 
encouraged by the Sovereign Pontiffs, and has numbered 
in its members some of the most illustrious Catholic names 
in all countries — kings and queens, statesmen, writers, 
artistS; soldiers, who all died in the habit of St. Francis. 

There are also established in the congregation of St. 
Francis of Assisi, Rosary, Pm-gatorian, and Altar socie- 
ties ; as well as associations in honor of St. Anthony, 
St. Peter, and St. Henry. 



CHURCH OF ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI. 293 



REV. EUGENE JOHN DIKOVICH, O.S.F., 

PASTOR OF THE CHUKCH OF ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI. 



THE Reverend Father of the Order of St. Francis 
who now directs the parish dedicated to the holy 
founder of tlie Friars Minor, Rev. Father Eugene John 
Dikovich, is a native of Hungary, born in the County of 
Moson, on the 27th of January, 1841. 

After studying the classics with the Benedictine 
Fathers of Sopron, he entered the Order of St. Francis 
on the 11th of October, 1857. 

Here he pursued the usual studies to fit him for 
the priesthood, had completed his course of jDhilosophy, 
and had just begun his theological studies, when lie was 
admitted to his religious profession on the 9th of No- 
vember, 1862. 

Two years later the" young friar of St. Francis re- 
ceived the holy order of priesthood, on the feast of 
Candlemas, in the year 1864. He was immediately ap- 
pointed to the temporar}^ charge of several parishes in 
the neighborhood of his convent, discharging his duties 
in such a manner as to commend him to his superiors. 

On returning to his convent he was appointed to 



294 



CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 



deliver the Sunday sermon in the collegiate church in 
the city of Tirnavia, and besides discharging- the duty 
thus devolved upon him for two years, he gave cate- 
chetical instruction in the convent school of the Ursu- 
lines in that city. 

The same honorary post of Sunday preacher in the 
convent church at Strigonium was filled by Father 
Eugene from 1868 to 1870, after which he was sent by 
the General Superior of the Franciscan Order to the 
United States, and attached to St. Mary's Province. 

In the new field thus opened to his zeal he did 
not remain inactive ; he was soon assigned by the pro- 
vincial to the position of guardian and pastor of the 
convent and church of St. Francis of Assisi, in West 
Thirty-first Street. His ability and eloquence have made 
him highly esteemed, and the church prospers under his 
care. His associate is the Rev. Polycarp Giith, O.S.F., ex- 
Custos, and there are also in the convent two lay brothers. 
The Very Rev. Charles da Nazzano, O.S.F., for several 
years Provincial of the American Province of the Immac- 
ulate Conception, also resides in this house. 



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CHURCH OF SAINT FRANCIS XAVIER. 



WEST SIXTEENTH STREET. 



THE Fathers of the Society of Jesus were, in tlie 
persons of the heroic priests — Isaac Jogues, Fran- 
cis Joseph Bressani, and Simon Le Moyne — the first to 
visit the city after its settlement by the emigrants from 
Netherland. Tliey were the first to estabhsli Cathohc 
worship and a Cathohc institution of learning- here in 
the days of James II.; they labored earnestly here as 
devoted missionaries and able educators in the days of 
Fenwick and Kohlman. 

In the year 1846, the late Most Reverend Arch- 
bishop Hughes, regretting that the Diocese of New York 
had ever lost the services of an order so intimately con- 
nected with the earliest efforts of the Church in the 
city and State, invited to New York a number of the 
Fathers who belonged to the Province of France, and 
who had for some years been connected with the Dio- 
cese of Louisville. He confided to their care the Col- 
lege of St. John, which he had founded at Fordham, 
as well as the theological seminary established at the 
same place. 

Their zeal sought also a field in the City of New 



CHURCH OF ST. FRANCIS XAVIER. 297 

York as missioners and teachers. Encouraged by the 
Most Reverend Archbishop, they purchased a church on 
Ehzabeth Street which had been erected and used by a 
Protestant denomination. 

This edifice was thoroughly repaired, and fitted up 
for a CathoHc church, chiefly under the direction of the 
Rev. Father Peter Verheyden, S.J., who frescoed the in- 
terior in a most artistic manner. This new church was 
dedicated on Saturday, July 31, 1847, as the Church of 
the Holy Name of Jesus, by the Rt. Rev. John McClos- 
key, D.D., Bishop of Axiern and Coadjutor to the Bishop 
of New York. The Rt. Rev. William Quarter, D.D., 
Bishop of Chicago, also took part in the ceremony, as 
did a great number of the clergy of the diocese. After 
the performance of the ritual of dedication. High Mass 
was offered pontifically by the Bishop of Axiern, now a 
cardinal of the Holy Roman Church, the Rev. William 
Starrs of St. Mary's being assistant priest, tlie Redempto- 
rist Father Tappert, deacon, and the Rev. Gabriel Rump- 
ler, subdeacon. The master of ceremonies was the Rev. 
D. W. Bacon, subsequently Bishop of Portland. After 
the gospel, a sermon Avas preached by the eloquent Father 
Ryder^ President of the College of the Holy Cross, 
Worcester, Mass. 

The Jesuit Fathers fitted up the basement of this 
church for an academy, the nucleus of a future college, 
and were encouraged with the hope of being able to 



298 



CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 



find scope for their zeal. But their anticipations were 
rudely dissipated. On the 22d of January, 1848, the fire, 
through a defective flue, made its way between the plas- 
tering and the wall, and unperceired spread through the 
whole building, till it found vent in the steej)le, where 
it blazed out fiercely. Then it Avas too late to save the 
church, which was soon one mass of flames, burning as 
long as there was any fuel to feed them. 

The Church of the Holy Name of Jesus, after its 
brief existence of about six months, passed from the list 
of our houses of worship. 

The Jesuit Fathers did not rebuild it, and for some 
years difficulties impeded the commencement of a new 
church in a more favorable locality. At last, in 1850, 
they purchased several lots, extending from Fifteenth to 
Sixteenth Street, between Fifth and Sixth Avenues, and 
began to erect on Fifteenth Street the College of St. 
Francis Xavier, and on Sixteenth Street the church of 
the same name. The project and the execution were 
due in a great degree to the Rev. Father John Ryan, 
who had already erected the first church at Yonkers. 
The architect was Mr. William Rodrigue, and the plan 
of the church was the Roman, which has always been 
more commonly adopted, in churches of the Society of 
Jesus, than either Gothic or Grecian. 

The comer-stone was laid on the 24th of Septem- 
ber, 1850, and the Rt. Rev. P. N. Lynch, D.D., Bishop of 



CHURCH OF ST. FRAJ^CIS XAVIER. 299 

Charleston, delivered on the occasion a happy discourse, 
which was listened to with marked attention by the 
crowds who assembled to witness the ceremony. The 
want of more and larg-er churches was at this time sorely 
felt, and all hailed with delight every accession of priests 
and every additional church. Many of the older struc- 
tures were in evident need of enlarg-ement or rebuilding, 
even if new churches accommodated part of their already 
overflowing congregations. 

The Church of St. Francis Xavier, thus begun under 
most favorable auspices, was completed in the following 
year, and was solemnly dedicated on the 6th of July, 
1851, by the Most Rev. Archbishop Hughes. After the 
blessing of the sacred edifice according to the rites pre- 
scribed by the Church, a Solemn High Mass was offered, 
and his Grrace delivered a sermon befitting the occasion. 

Among the distinguished Fathers who have from 
time to time been pastors, or engaged in the ministry at 
this church, may be mentioned the Rev. Fathers Michael 
Driscol, Joseph Durthaller, Joseph Loyzance, Isidore Dau- 
bresse, W. Moylan, John Larkin, Hippolyte Deluynes. 

Father John Larkin was one of the most eminent 
members of the order in this mission. He had been 
connected with the Society of St. Sulpice, and a pro- 
fessor of great ability in their seminary at Montreal be- 
fore he became a Jesuit. After he entered the order he 
was, in 1850, appointed by Pope Pius IX. to the See of 



300 



CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 



Toronto, Canada; but in his humility he labored so earn- 
estly to avoid the honor that he was allowed to remain 
in his order. He died suddenly, on the 11th of Decem- 
ber, 1858, just after leaving- the confessional, in which 
he had spent the whole afternoon. He Avas to have 
preached the next day in St. James' Church in behalf 
of the parochial schools. Archbishop Hughes himself re- 
placed him, almost too full of emotion to speak. 

Father Hippolyte Deluynes, who was almost con- 
stantly attached to this church, till his death in 1877, 
had been Professor of Theology in Kentucky, where he 
entered the order. Learned, deeply versed in the Scrip- 
tures, of a clear and penetrating mind, he enjoyed uni- 
versal esteem. 

Soon after the erection of the church and college, 
the Fathers in charge of the parish prepared to do all 
in their power for the cause of education. A substantial 
building was raised in Nineteenth Street, at a cost of 
some $20,000, for the purposes of a boys' school, which 
was placed under the care of the Christian Brothers, 
who have continued to direct it to the present time. 
The Ladies of the Sacred Heart had established a con- 
vent within the bounds of the parochial district, as- 
signed to the Church of St. Francis Xavier. These 
religious, the most accomplished of teachers, direct an 
academy for young ladies in the building fronting on 
Seventeenth Street, and in Eighteenth Street conduct the 



CHURCH OF ST. FRANCIS XAVIER. 301 

parocliial school. The influence of their teiiching- lias 
been of incalculable advantage. 

The choir of the church, under the direction of Dr. 
William Berg-e, who under Father Verheyden had be- 
come the organist of the Church of the Holy Name, 
attained a high standing in musical circles. The music 
was always grand and decorous, free from the meretri- 
cious liberties which so often shock true Catholic feeling. 

Being at the time of its erection in one of tile 
most fashionable quarters of New York, the Church of 
St. Francis Xavier was for years a center of the most 
distinguished Catholics of the city. Here on a Sunday 
would be seen at mass, army generals like Meagher and 
Ferrero, painters like Leutze, men of wealth like Thomas 
E. Davis. 

The history of the church has been marred by only 
one accident, which cast a gloom over it for a time. 
The Chmxli of St. Francis Xavier was, in March, 1877, 
attended by thousands anxious to benefit by the instruc- 
tion given at a mission, eloquent sermons on all the 
fundamental doctrines of the church — the necessity of a 
Clu'istian life, sincere repentance, and preparation for 
death and the great final account. On the evening of 
Thursday, March 8th, while Father Langcake was deliv- 
ering a sermon on death, during the mission to the wo- 
men, some boys or other persons, from levity or a de- 
sire to profit by the confusion for thievish purposes, put 



302 CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 

their heads in at the church door and called out, " Fire ! 
Fire ! Fire ! " Instantly a panic spread among those near- 
est the door, and a frantic rush was made to escape from 
the building, which they supposed to be in flames. The 
crush on the gallery stairs was tremendous, as each tried 
to push a way through, regardless of the safety of others. 
The clergy at the altar reassured the mass of the con- 
gregation and continued the services, in order to dispel 
all fears. Father Merrick, the pastor of the church, who 
had been engaged in the basement hearing confessions, 
rushed to the front on hearing the noise above, and did 
all that human power could do to still the storm and 
quiet the alarmed and frightened people. Calm was 
at last restored. With the help of cool men, the clergy 
and sexton raised and carried out those who had fallen, 
and opened the way to the street. It was only then 
that the extent of the disaster was known. Seven lives 
were lost and seven persons were seriously injured by 
the thoughtless or wicked trick. 

The church had been considered safe, and more than 
ordinary precautions had been taken against any real 
fire — there were three doors, all opening outwardly, and 
the stairs from the galleries had but one turn, and were 
lighted. So strong was all the work that nothing gave 
way under the tremendous pressure. 

The funeral services for those who perished by the 
disaster were most impressive. " One of the victims," said 



CHURCH OF ST. FRANCIS XAVIER. 393 

Father Langcake on that occasion, '' was a good, pious 
woman, and had received communion the very morning of 
the disaster. One young girl, Mary Casey, whose body 
is here before you, was well known as a good, pious girl. 
She came to mass every morning. All of them were 
well prepared. We have every reason to feel consoled, 
because God did not treat them harshly. Do not consider 
'it, then, as a proof of God's unkindness. 

" God loves victims, requires victims. It is His way. 
Did He not make His divine Son Jesus a victim ? and 
no one was more pleasing to God the Father than Jesus, 
His Son ; and yet He was the great victim. He was 
nailed to the cross of Calvary, and died between two 
thieves. After Jesus came another, the purest of mere 
human beings, Mary, the Virgin Mother of Jesus. What 
a victim she was ! How her heart was pierced with 
grief! The seven-edged sword of sorrow pierced that 
heart tlirough and through. After them came the saints. 
Victims they were, that poured out their blood for the 
faith, all for the love of God. What does this prove 1 
It proves that God loves victims ; that he wants victims 
in order to appease His anger against a guilty and fallen 
race. He chose His victims, but chose them kindly and 
mercifully. He chose them in His goodness from those 
that were well prepared in a good moment. ' Weep not, 
.then, as they that have no hope.' My dear friends, you 
have everything to hope ! We have made it our duty 



304 CATHOLTO CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 

to offer the adorable sacrifice of the mass for those that 
liave perished and their relatives and friends who are so 
mucli affected by the disaster. This morning every sacri-" 
ficc — some twenty-five in number — was offered for the 
victims. I have just offered Solenm Higli Mass for the 
dead, especially for those whose bodies are now in the 
church." 

This event induced the Fathers to carry out an in- 
tention long entertained, that of erecting a new, larger 
and more substantial church. The want of such an edi- 
fice had been felt, but the condition of affairs seemed 
to require a prudent delay. 

Between the old church and Sixth Avenue was a 
row of seven houses. These were purchased, and four 
taken down entirely, and three in part; a portion of 
the college also being demolished. The plan of a new 
chiu'ch Avas drawn up by P. C. Keely, the architect. 
It will be of brick, with a fagade of light granite, in 
the Roman style. In its dimensions it is to be a 
noble temple to the Almighty, seventy-seven feet in front, 
with a depth of one hundred and eighty-four feet. The 
transept has a width of more than a hundred feet, and 
is forty-five feet wide. The sanctuary will be spacious 
and elegant. 

There will be galleries at the side and front, and 
two choir galleries, each with an organ electrically con-, 
nected, so that one player can control both. 



I 



CHURCH OF ST. FRANCIS XAVIER. 305 

The front elevation of the chui-ch will be one hun- 
dred and four feet, with towers rising one hundred and 
eighty feet. These dimensions show that the church will 
be vast and commodious. The basement will be eight- 
een feet high, to give a fine chapel for the use of the 
children. Every precaution will be taken for easy exit — 
there will be five main entrances in front, with other 
doors at the side and rear. The church will seat twenty- 
five hundred, and be an imposing edifice. The corner- 
stone of this new church was laid with great solemnity 
on the 5tli of May, 1878, the following inscription, in 
the most exact lapidary style, from the pen of the Rev. 
Father C. Piccirillo, S.J., having been placed under the 

stone : — 

D -o -M • 

IN • HONOREM 

FRANCISCI • XAVERI 

APOSTOLI • SOSPITATORIS • ORIENTIS 

LAXIORIS • TEMPLI • OPERE • ADSVRGENTE 

ANNVENTE • lOANNE • McCLOSKEY 

S • R • E • CARDINALI 

NEOEBORACENS ■ PONTIFICE • MAIORE 

GVLIELMVS . QVINN 

EIVSDEM • DICECESIS • IVRE • VICARIO • MODERATOR 

SOLLEMNIBVS • CAERIMONIIS 

QVAS • PATRITIVS • N • LYNCH • CAROLOPOLIT • PONTIFEX 

CONCIONE • AD • POPVLVM • HABITA • CONDECORAVIT 

LAPIDEM • SACRVM • AVSPICALEM • STATVIT 



III • NON • MAIAS • ANNO ■ M • DCCC • LXXVIII 

LEONE • xm • PONT • MAX 

RVTHERFORDIO • B ■ HAYES 

BOREALIS • AMERICA • FCEDERATyE • PRESIDE 

20 



306 CATHOLIC CHUKCHES OF NEW YORK. 



LVCIO • ROBINSON 

NEOEBORACENS . REIP • GVBERNATORE 

SMITH • ELY ■ IVNIORE 

NOVIEBORACI • VRBIS • PR^FECTO 



QVVM . ^DES . lAM . XXVII . ANNOS . VII . MENSES . X . DIES . HONORI 

S . FRANCISCI . XAVERI . DICATA . FREQUENTIAE . CVLTORVM . IMPAR 

ESSET . PATRES .8.1. PETRO . BECKX . SVMMO . ORDINIS . PR^EPOSITO 

ADPROBANTE . TEMPLVM . COMMODIVS . OPE RE . ET . CVLTV 

SPLENDIDIVS . EXCITANDVM . DECREVERE . ADMONITIV . ET . INSTANTIA 

THEOPHILI . CHARAVX . NEOBORACENSIVM . CANADENSIVM . QVE 

SODALIVM . MODERATORIS 

ADSITAS . QVAQVA . VERVS . PRIVATAS . MDKS . AD . SEPTEM .COEMERVNT 

EARVM . QVE . QVATVOR . FONDITVS . TRES . PARTIM . DEMOLITI . SVNT 

ET . COLLEGIVM • IPSVM . MEDIA. ALA . EXCISA . DETVRBAVERVNT 

VT • TEMPLI . MOLITIONI 

AREA . PATERET . IN . FRONTEM . PEDES. 



LXXXIII . IN , LONGVM . PEDES . CLXXXVI. 

TEMPLVM . INSVPER . GERMINATVM . AB . INCHOATO . EVEHENDVM . EXORNANDVM 

QUE . PATRITIO . C . KEELY . ARCHITECTO . COMMISSVN . EST 

AD . INGENTES . OPERIS . SVMPTVS . CONATIBVS . SODALIVM .S.I. PIETAS 

CVLTORVM . STIPE . CONLATA . DONIS . QVE . ADFVTVRA . ERIT 

HENRICVS . HVDON . RECTOR . COLLEGI . IWENTVTI . RELLIGIONE . BONIS 

QVE . ARTIBVS . INSTITVENDAE . ITEMQVE . DAVID . MERRICK . VICE 

SACRA . ECCLESI^ . CVRATOR . ARDVVM . OPVS . SOLLERTIA . STVDIIS QUE . OMNIBVS 

PROMOVEBVNT 

AVE • FRANCISCE • SODALIS 
SI • AMPLIORES • TIBI • ^DES 

A • SOLO • EXCITAMVS 

AST ■ TV • AMPLIORE • TVITIONE 

COLLEGIO • SODALITATAQVE • NOSTRA 

VOLENS • ADESTO • FOVETO 

BENE • IWATO 

This corner-stone was laid on the afternoon of Sunday, 
May 5th, with the prescribed ceremonies and prayers, by 
the Very Rev. WiUiam Quinn, Administrator of the Diocese 
during the absence of his Eminence Cardinal McCloskey. 
The platform and the neighboring houses were decorated 



CHURCH OF ST. FRANCIS XAVIER. 



307 



with flags, and an oil painting of the titular saint of the 
church was displayed in the view of all. At four o'clock 
the procession emerged from the old church. The cross- 
bearer and acolytes were followed by the children of 
the Sunday-school and members of sodalities established 
in the parish, and passed through the walls of the new 
church to the large cross erected there. With the in- 
scription, photographs of Pope Pius IX. and Leo XIII. 
were deposited. The sermon was preached by the Right 
Eev. P. N. Lynch, D.D., Bishop of Charleston, who had, 
as we have seen, officiated in a similar manner at the 
commencement of the old church. 

He dwelt in his sermon on the wonderful growth of 
Catholicity in this country, especially in the city and 
Diocese of New York, where the churches were mainly 
the work of the poor — of those dependent for a liveli- 
hood on their daily toil — but who, in the deep sense of 
their indebtedness to God, gave freely of their hard- 
earned and scanty remuneration to the service of the 
sanctuary. 

The new structure is advancing prudently and with 
care. Much is yet to be done, but the congregation 
evince a zeal and generosity that insure its completion 
in a style to endure for years, and give the parisli a 
church fully adequate to all their wants. 



308 CATHOUO CHUBOHES 01' NEW YORK. 


• 


HoLL 


OF 


• 

LIoNOR. 




CHURCH 


OF ST. FRANCIS XAVIER. 




Aylward, James B. 




Lyddy, Daniel R. 




Burke, M., Mrs. 




Lynch, J. J. 




Butler, Agnes T., Mrs. 




McCabe, Thomas. 




Campbell, Mary, Miss. 




McCann, Owen. 




Cassin, Timothy. 




McVey, John. 




Crotty, John B. 




Mara, Lawrence P. 




Dean, Mary, Mrs. 




Mooney, Owen. 




Dowd, James. 




Murray, Peter. 




Duffy, Philip. 




O'Brien, Michael. 




Fitzsimons, John. 




Patterson, James. 




Fitzsimons, Michael. 




Reardon, John. 




Higgins, Simon. 




Roach, Thomas. 




Kean, Thomas. 




Ryan, William. 




Kelly, John, Mrs. 




Sellers, Augustin. 




Kensilla, Thomas. 


, 


Smith, Michael. 


' 



CHURCH OF ST. FRANCIS XAVIER. 309 



REV. DAVID MERRICK, 

PASTOR OF THE CHURCH OF ST. FRANCIS XAVIER. 



THE Rev. David Merrick is a native of New York 
City. He was born February 19, 1833, and re- 
ceived his education in St. John's College, Fordham, 

Resohdng to devote himself to the service of God, 
and feeling a vocation for the religious state, he entered 
the Society of Jesus, July 21, 1853, and after years 
spent in teaching and in the theological studies, received 
holy orders. 

After his ordination he was employed in the mis- 
sionary work of the parish, and has now for several years 
been pastor of the Church of St. Francis Xavier, es- 
teemed as an eloquent and learned preacher, an able 
administrator, and a devoted priest. 

Two volumes from his pen, " Lectures on the Church" 
and " Sermons for the Times," have been most favorably 
received and widely read. Of Father Merrick's "Lectures 
on the Church," the Catholic World said: "They are logi- 
cal, solid, and at the same time easy to be understood. 
He refutes the Protestant doctrine on the Rule of Faith, 
and establishes the Catholic rule, ending with the cul- 



310 CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 

minating point of tlie supremacy of the Pope in govern- 
ment and doctrine. The proofs of the latter from En- 
gHsh history are remarkably appropriate and well put. 
The style of the reverend author is pure and pleasing." 

With the Fathers appointed to assist him in St. 
Francis Xavier's, Father Merrick attends also St. Vin- 
cent's Hospital, No. 195 West Eleventh Street, the old- 
est and largest Catholic hospital in the city, which is 
directed by the Sisters of Charity; and also St. Joseph's 
Home for Aged Women, No. 203 West Fifteenth Street, 
where those overtaken by years and infirmities receive 
the kindest attention from the same devoted religious. 

Other Fathers of the same order, residing in the 
college, which adjoins the church, attend the Catholics 
in the city institutions on Blackwell's Island, the poor 
children on Randall's Island, the emigrants on Ward's 
Island; while the prisons have for years received the 
visits and care of a priest who has .identified himself 
with that excellent work — the Rev, Father Henry Duran-: 
quet, S.J. ' 




CHURCH OF SAII^TT GABKIEL. 

EAST THTKTY-SEVENTH STREET. 



CHURCH OF SAINT GABRIEL. 



EAST THIRTY-SEVENTH STREET. 



THE Church of St. John the Evangehst, East Fiftieth 
Street, for some years accommodated the Catholics 
in that district of the city, but it soon became evident 
that the parish was too large for one pastor, and the chui'ch 
too small for the Catholics already within its boundaries, 
and especially so in view of the increase that the next 
few years would bring. 

His Grrace the Most Reverend Archbishop Hughes 
laid off a new parochial district south of that assigned 
to St. John the Evangelist, and confided to the Rev. 
William Clowry, Avho had been assistant pastor at St. 
Stephen's, the task of organizing a new congregation and 
erecting a church. 

A site for the sacred edifice was a gift. Among 
the converts who, year by year, brought to the Catho- 
lic Churcli the culture, experience, and judgment which 
had made them respected in the land, was Henry J. 
Anderson, for many years Professor of Mathematics in 
Columbia College, and to his death a member of the 
Board of Trustees of that institution. Not only in the 



CHURCH OF ST. GABRIEL. 313 

paths of mathematics and the exact sciences, but in vari- 
ous departments of learning he held the highest rank. 

Step by step he was led to the Catholic Church; 
a correspondence to divine grace making him act on the 
convictions of his intellect. From his conversion, in 
1853, he gave the Catholic body not only the example 
of a scrupulous and childlike practice of all Christian 
duties, but liis personal service in aid of institutions and 
organizations. He was President of the Upper Council 
of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul; and filling the 
same position in the Society for the Protection of Desti- 
tute Roman Catholic Children in the City of Ncav York, 
he rendered incalculable service in furthering the welfare 
of the New York Catholic Protectory. When the Catho- 
lic Union of New York was founded, a imanimous voice 
called him to preside over its councils. 

In the new parish, placed mider the care of the 
Rev. Mr. Clowry, Dr. Anderson took a deep interest, 
and he conveyed to the church, in 1859, eight lots on 
East Thirty-seventh Street, Avorth at least twenty-five 
thousand dollars, as four additional lots jji^ii'chased by the 
pastor showed. 

The new parish was placed imder the invocation of 
the angel Gabriel, the messenger chosen by God to an- 
nounce to the Blessed Virgin Mary that the hour of re- 
demption had come, and that of her, the Virgin so long 
announced, was to be born the Saviour of the World. 



314 



CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 



For the prophet Daniel, centuries before, the angel Gabriel 
had lifted the veil of futurity and heralded that event in 
which he Avas to appear so conspicuously. 

On the church to be raised in his honor, his effigy 
might stand with the words of Holy Writ: "I am Ga- 
briel who stand before God: and am sent to speak to 
thee, and to bring thee these good tidings." 

The Rev. Mr. dowry's first care was to erect school- 
houses for the parish. These were completed towards the 
close of the year 1859, and the first floor of the male 
school was duly blessed as a chapel. A large congrega- 
tion, numbering fifteen hundred, assembled here, and for 
five years it was the temporary church, three masses being 
said every Sunday morning. 

Meanwhile the joastor zealously employed his time 
and influence to collect means to justify him in com- 
mencing the erection of the church. The breaking out 
of the late civil war, and the distress and gloomy fore- 
bodings that filled the country, prevented the good Avork, 
and it was not till the year 1864 that the building of 
St. Gabriel's was undertaken in earnest and the corner- 
stone laid. 

The architect to whom the work was intrusted was 
Mr. H. Engelbert, who selected the Gothic architecture of 
the thirteenth century, and reared a chiu'ch of great 
beauty. 

The church fronts on Thirty-seventh Street, about two 



\ 



CHURCH OF ST. GABRIEL. 315 

hundred feet east of Second Avenue. The depth of the 
building is one hundred and thirty-eight feet, and the 
width sixty-eight feet. The nave is thirty-eight feet in 
heiglit, and the side aisles thirty-five feet. The height of 
the front is seventy-eight feet, and of the tower and spire 
one hundred and eighty-six feet. Brown stone from the 
Belleville, New Jersey, quarries was used in the front of 
the edifice ; the side and rear walls are of brick, with 
brown stone trimmings. The ceilings of the nave and aisles 
are groined, and rest upon eighteen gracefully formed 
cluster columns. The chancel is finished in the richest 
style of ornamentation, and possesses a new feature in the 
shape of two arches — the interior one twenty feet wide, 
and the exterior one thirty, so that the large altar can be 
seen from every part of the church. This altar is finished 
with a very rich screen of open tracery work, with 
statues, and a large painting of the Annunciation in the 
centre. This painting is a copy, by Mazolini, from 
Guido's celebrated painting of tliat Mystery. There 
are two side altars, elaborately finished, one of which is 
dedicated to the Blessed Virgin and the other to St. 
Joseph. 

The church seats sixteen hundred persons and cost 
eighty thousand dollars. Most of this large amount was 
collected by the Eev. Mr. Clowry in sums of from one 
dollar to five hundred. 

The chiu-ch was dedicated on the 12th of November, 



316 CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 

1865. The altars were beautifully adorned, and the 
whole interior decorated. At the appointed hour, his 
Grace the Most Reverend Archbishop McCloskey, attended 
by the Very E.ev. William Starrs, V.G., issued in pro- 
cession from the vestry, the cross and acolytes leading 
the long line of clergymen. After the ceremony pre- 
scribed by the ritual had been completed, and the sacred 
edifice dedicated to Almighty God under the invocation 
of the holy angel Gabriel, the procession re-entered the 
sacristy. The altar was then prepared, the priest attired 
for the celebration of the holy sacrifice appeared with his 
deacon and subdeacon ; the Archbishop and Bishop Lynch 
of Charleston occupying the places of honor in the sanc- 
tuary. The mass was then proceeded with, the celebrant 
being the Rev. Father Baratta, assisted by the Rev. A. 
Donnelly as deacon and the Rev. James Conron as 
subdeacon. The sermon was preached by Bishop Lynch 
of Charleston, S. C, who said : — 

''In the divinely inspired records of the old dispen- 
sation, the Temple of Jerusalem ever stands out in most 
remarkable prominence. It was the subject of prophecies 
and promises before it was built. The sacred page nar- 
rates with great minuteness the gorgeousness of its many 
ornaments, and the inspired writers dwell with rapture on 
the glories of the day spent in its dedication to the 
Lord. 

" Soon after our first parents went out of the Gar- 



CHUEOH OF ST. GABRIEL. 317 

den of Eden they offered sacrifices to Him, and gathered 
together stones and built them an altar. Tlu'oughout 
the patriarchal ages altars were built. These altars were 
dedicated to God, and the memory of the sacrifices offer- 
ed upon them sanctified the places where they stood, and 
no man ought to approach the same without reverence 
and awe. 

" Then God, with a strong hand, gathered together 
his people from the land of Egypt and made them a 
people to himself. In their wanderings they bore about 
with them, during ages of expectation, the tabernacle, in 
which sacrifices were made, until the fullness of time 
came. Jerusalem was chosen as the sacred site. And by 
the command of God the people gathered together the 
material which was to build the temple. 

" In the fullness of time revelations came to the 
human race through Jesus Christ. Not alone in Jerusa- 
lem were sacrifices to be offered to the Lord, but from the 
rising of the sun to the going down of the same, every- 
where, in all ages, shall sacrifice and oblation be offered 
to the Lord God Almighty. The new law — the Chris- 
tian law — was given to man. 

'' During the ages of persecution it was in the cata- 
combs that the Christians worshiped in secret, for there 
they were hidden from the light of the sun and the surg- 
ing anger and wrath of their persecutors. These catacombs 
were the refuge of Clu-istians for two hundred years. 



318 CATUOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 

'' For a time the Emperor's sword would be sheathed, 
and then the Christians came out and erected some hum- 
ble churches. 

" But at length Christianity triumphed over all its 
enemies, and the Cliristians came forth radiant from the 
catacombs. Then very soon indeed was erected over the 
tomb of St. Peter the Basilica. 

" Years rolled on, and wherever Christianity was 
preached, there more churches in the form of the Basilica 
were erected. These churches were seen raising aloft 
their golden domes everywhere and in all lands. Then 
the work of Christianity spread further and wider, and 
these churches multiplied and were erected in that style 
which is styled Christian by pre-eminence, and with which 
pagan antiquities seemed to have no connecting link. 
Then it was that the people built those churches which 
still stand unequaled in their artistic beauty, and un- 
equaled in the power they have to impress devotion upon 
the souls of men. 

"The highest and the noblest work in which a man 
can engage is that of building churches. For what, my 
bretlu-en, is a church *? What is the meaning of the word ? 
The house of the Lord. The Lord has given you worldly 
goods, and you take from them some portion and set it 
aside to His glory, and you give it to Him as if it 
were a gift. And He in His goodness is pleased to ac- 
cept it and make it more fruitful of benefits to yourself 



I 



CHURCH OF ST. GABRIEL. 319 

" Love your clmrcli ; revere it, frequent it ; for in 
this churcli will the new-bom child be brought that it 
may be washed in the holy waters of baptism. Here too, 
when the child is grown up, it will return to receive such 
early instruction in divine truth as is adapted to its in- 
tellect. Here too the youth will return to receive the 
grace of confirmation. Here too will those come who are 
called to the holy state of matrimony, to be blessed be- 
fore the altar, and to be strengthened and prepared to 
fulfill the duties of their new state. Here too you may 
come to worship Christ and partake of your Lord's sup- 
per. Here too you will come to hear the revelation of 
divine truth and to have your duties made manifest to 
you. Here too will come the mortal remains of the de- 
parted Christian that the prayers of the Church may be 
said in his behalf 

"This is what the Church is — a link between God 
and man — between earth and Heaven. Love, therefore, 
revere and frequent your church." 

After the dedication of the church the Rev. Mr. Clowry 
set to work to perfect the system of Catholic education 
which he had introduced, and he succeeded, in spite of 
many obstacles, in making St. Gabriel's schools the pride 
of the parish. 

The reverend founder of St. Gabriel's is still its pas- 
tor, after nearly twenty years' labor among his flock. He 
has been assisted from time to time by the Rev. John 



320 CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 

B. Baratta, Rev. B. J. O'Callagliaii, Rev. Thomas J. Welch, 
Rev. Andrew Canary, and liis present curates, tlie Rev. 
William A. O'Neill, Rev. Nicholas J. Hughes, Rev. James 
J. Flood, and Rev. William F. Brady. 

The provision made in this parish for the Catholic 
training of the young is ample. St. Gabriel's Select 
School, at Nos. 229 and 231 East Thirty-sixth Street, 
numbers one hundi'ed and twenty young ladies as pupils, 
under the careful training of Sisters of Charity. 

The parochial schools for gratuitous education, estab- 
lished in 1859, are very large. The boys, under the direc- 
tion of those experienced instructors, the Brothers of the 
Christian Schools, number eight hundred and ninety ; and 
the girls, taught by Sisters of Charity, are estimated at 
five hundred; so that in this parish alone more than fif- 
teen hundred of the young are receiving a sound and 
thoroughly Catholic education, the whole burden of which 
falls on those who cannot in conscience intrust their 
children to the schools of the State, for which they are 
taxed. 

Connected with the church are the following soci- 
eties : St. Vincent de Paul Conference — President, James 
Darlington; Vice-President, Patrick Tierney; Treasurer, 
James Dempsey ; Secretary, T. J. Finley. St. Gabriel's 
School Association — President, Hon. John Mullaly ; Vice- 
President, P. H. McDonough ; Recording Secretary, Major 
O'Shaughnessy ; Financial Secretary, Wm. T. Goggins ; 



OHUROH OF ST. GABRIEL. 



321 



Corresponding- Secretary, F. P. Carroll. Young- Men's 
Musical and Literary Association, presided over by offi- 
cers elected annually. Besides these there are other soci- 
eties, such as the Sodality of the Sacred Heart, the 
Rosary and Scapular societies, the Society of the Chil- 
dren of Mary, &c., wliich are directed by the priests of 
the church. 



Roll of Honor. 



Adams, Bridget, Mrs. 
Ahern, Cornelius. 
Banan, William. 
Bannon, Owen. 
Berker, Francis. 
Berrigan, Eliza. 
Bowen, Daniel. 
Boylan, Ann, Mrs. 
Boy Ian, Mary. 
Boyle, John. 
Boyle, "Margaret, Mrs. 
Boylston, Edward. 
Brady, James. 
Bransfield, Honora. 
Brady, Hanna. 
Brady, Maria. 
Brady, P. 

Breen, Michael, A. 
Brennan, James. 
Brennan, John. 
Brennan, P. 
Britt, Mary, Mrs. 
Brown, Richard J. 
Browne, Pat'k F.,Mrs. 
Browne, Richard. 
Burns, Maria, Mrs. 
Byrne, Patrick. 
Byrnes, Denis. 
Byrnes, John. 
Byrnes, Lawrence. 



B)T-nes, Michael. 
Cain, Michael. 
Callaghan, Joseph, Mrs 
Callahan, James. 
Callahan, Jeremiah. 
Campbell, Owen. 
Carberry, William. 
Carey, Charles. 
Carney, John. 
Carroll, E. P. 
Carroll, Susan, Mrs. 
Carney, John. 
Casey, Luke. 
Cassidy, Mary A. 
Cassidy, Patrick. 
Chester, Maria, Mrs. 
Chidwick, John B. 
Clark, J. 
Clark, Kate. 
Clancy, Michael. 
Clifford, Michael. 
Coffey, John. 
Coffey, Peter. 
Coleman, Hugh. 
Collins, Patrick. 
Connell, T. 

Connelly, Rose E.Mrs. 
Connelly, Felix. 
Cooney, James F. 
Courtney, J. 

21 



Conway, Arthur. 
Corrigan, John J. 
Corrigan, Patrick. 
Costello, Mary. 
Coughlin, Thomas. 
Crawford, Mary. 
Creamer, Michael. 
Cronin, P. 
Crowe, Michael. 
Cunningham, Patrick. 
Cunningham, Thos. Y. 
Curran, T. 

Daley, Catharine, Mrs. 
Daley, James. 
Daly, John David. 
Darcy, John, 
Darcy, D, 
Delaney, Peter. 
Delaney, William. 
Dempsey, James. 
Dennis, C. 
Derwin, James. 
Devine, Catharine, Mrs 
Devlin, James. 
Diehl, Michael. 
Dillon, Patrick. 
Dineen, James. 
Dolan, John. 
Dolan, Margaret. 
Donegan, Eliza. 



Donnelly, John. 
Donnelly, Joseph. 
Donnelly, Patrick. 
Donnolly, T. P. 
Donohue, Michael, Mrs 
Donohue, Thomas. 
Doody, EUie, Miss. 
Dooley, John. 
Doonan, Patrick J. 
Dougherty, A. T. 
Dougherty, Cornelius. 
Dougherty, Patrick. 
Downs, Patrick. 
Doyle, John. 
Duane, Michael. 
Duffy, John. 
Duffy, Owen. 
Dunley, Joseph. 
Dunn, Eliza. 
Dunn, John. 
Dunn, Michael. 
Ennis, Margaret. 
Erwin, Annie, Mrs. 
Fagan, John, 
Fallon, Daniel. 
Farley, J. 
Farrell, Hugh F. 
Farrell, John. 
Farrelly, Patrick. 
Fawcett, Francis. 



322 CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YOUK. 


Feeley, Hannah. 


Keating, James. 


McLityre, Annie, Mrs 


. Prunty, James. 


Finnelly, T. 


Keefe, James. 


McKee, Patrick. 


Purcell, Patrick. 


Fitzpatrick, John. 


Keegan, Alice, Mrs. 


McKenna, J. Mrs. 


Quin, Julia, Mrs. 


Fitzpatiick, Michael D 


Kehoe, Edward. 


McNally, J. 


Quinn, Lawrence H. 


Fitzpatrick, Patrick. 


Kehoe, Michael. 


Madden, Michael F. 


Radican, Eliza. 


Fitzsimmons, Eliza. 


Kelly, Catharine, Mrs 


. Madden, Owen. 


Readen, Julia. 


Fitzsimons, G. 


Kelly, Edward. 


Madden, Peter. 


Reahill, Ann. 


Flannacan, George. 


Kelly, James. 


Mahony, James. 


Reddy, IMary. 


Flannery, Bridget. 


Kelly, Patrick. 


Marcella, John. 


Reilly, Edward. 


Fleming, Patrick, Mrs 


Kelyberg, Ber'd, Mrs 


. Markey, G. W. 


Reilly, Ellen. 


Fluhr, Ann, Mrs. 


Kennedy, Kate. 


Markey, James. 


Reilly, Kate. 


Flynn, A. 


Kennedy, Lawrence. 


Martin, P. 


Reilly, Mary. 


Flynn, J. 


Kenny, P. 


Masterson, Ed. Mrs. 


Reilly, Rose. 


Foley, James F. 


Kevelin, Bridget. 


Mead, Michael. 


Reynolds, Peter. 


Foley, John. 


Kiernan, Bridget. 


Meehan, Kate, 


Reynolds, Thomas. 


Foreman, James. 


Kiernan, L. D. 


Meeks, John, Mrs. 


Rice, Michael U. 


Freeman, John. 


Kindelon, Patrick. 


Meskell, John. 


Robinson, James. 


Fullen, Patrick. 


King, Patrick, 


Milligan, Cath., Mrs. 


Ryan, Bridget. 


Gallagher, John. 


Kinsella, Robert. 


Moloney, T. F. 


Ryan, Thomas. F. 


Gallagher, Michael. 


Lambert, Patrick. 


Morgan, Matthew. 


Sage, Patrick. 


Gallagher, Patrick. 


Lambert, Timothy. 


Moore, Catharine. 


Scott, Nicholas. 


Gallagher, Terence, 


Lambert, William. 


Mordan, John. 


Seery, Bernard, F. 


Gannon, Andrew. 


Laverty, Mary J. 


Morgan, J. 


Seward, Matthew. 


Gannon, Bridget, Mrs. 


Leddy, Felix. 


Morris, Patrick. 


Shaughnessey, J. 


Gannon, Julia. 


Lee, Mary, Mrs. 


Mulligan, Catharine. 


Shea, D. 


Garrahan, Ann, Mrs. 


Leip, James. 


Mulligan, James. 


Shea, Mary T. Mrs. 


Garry, Joseph. 


Leonard, Catharine. 


Mulsley, Mary. 


Sheehan, M. 


Gavin, Michael. 


Leslie, Francis, Mrs. 


Murphy, John. 


Sheridan, James. 


Gay nor, Edward. 


Lestrange, Patrick. 


Murphy, Thomas. 


Sheridan, Richard. 


Gehegan, Michael A. 


Levins, James F. 


Murphy, Timothy. 


Skahan, James E. 


Geraty, Martin. 


Looram, Patrick. 


Murray, John. 


Slater, J. 


Gibney, Ann. 


Love, Michael. 


Mutel, August. 


Slater, "Patrick. 


Goggins, William T. 


Lowery, Thomas. 


Noonan, John. 


Smith, Alice, Mrs. 


Golden, Charles. 


Lynch, John. 


Norris, John H. 


Smith, Charles. 


Grace, William, Mrs. 


Lynch, T. 


Nugent, Matthew. 


Smith, James, Mrs. 


, Grady, Mary, Mrs. 


McAuliffe, Florence. 


O'Brien, Dora. 


Spillane, Morris. 


Grady, Michael. 


McAuIiffe, John J. 


O'Brien, J 


Stokes, John. 


Gregory, Thomas. 


McBride, Owen. 


O'Brien, Joanna, Mrs. 


Stringer, James. 


Hall, Robert. 


McCabe, Mary. 


O'Connell, Jeffrey.Mrs 


Sullivan, Dennis. 


Hallon, Patrick. 


McCabe, William. 


O'Connor, Connell. 


Sullivan, John. 


Hatton, Patrick. 


McCafifery, John. 


O'Connor, John, Mrs. 


Sweeney, Paul. 


Healy, Thoma.s. 


McCahill, Maggie. 


O'Donnell, B. 


Thornton, John N. 


Heaney, Pierce. 


McCarthy, G. 


O'Donovan, Tim'y J. 


Tucker, John. 


Hedrick, Mary, Mrs. 


McCarthy, James. 


O'Hara, James. 


Tulley, Thomas F. 


Hefferan, Patrick. 


McCormick, Bridget, 


O'Hara, Mary. 


Turley, Richard. 


Higgins, John, Mrs. 


McCrosson, Rose. 


O'Gara, John W. 


Tyrrell, Margaret, Mrs. 


Higgins, Patrick. 


McCue, Elizabeth, Mrs 


. O'Grady, Mary, Mrs. 


Walsh, John. 


Hogan, James. 


McCullen, Morris. 


O'Keefe, Thomas. 


Walsh, Matthew. 


Hope, John, 


McDonald, John. 


O'Rourke, Bernard. 


Waters, Benjamin. 


Horlihy, Margaret. 


McDonough, Patrick. 


O'Shaughnessy, John. 


Waters, Patrick. 


Houlahan, John. 


McEvoy, Ellen, Mrs. 


O'Sullivan, Hanna. 


Weir, Rose. 


Hughes, James. 


McGee, Patrick. 


Otterson, Francis. 


Whalen, James. 


Hughes, Peter. 


McGinn, Patrick. 


Padden, John. 


Whalen, Thomas. 


Jones, P. 


McGlew, Christopher. 


Phillips, H. M. 


Whelan, Henry, Mrs. 


Kane, Hugh. 


McGrath, Michael. 


Pollard, Daniel. 


Willoughby,Mary, Mrs 


Kane, Thomas. 


McGrath, Patrick. 


Powell, Daniel. 


Woodlock, David. 


Kavanagh, Edward. 


McGurren, John. 


Powell, Thomas. 


Woods, F. 




Wood 


s, John. 





( 

i 



CHUKCH OF ST. GABRIEL. 323 



THE REV. WILLIAM H. CLOWRY, 

PASTOR OF ST. GABEIEL'S CHURCH. 



THIS worthy priest, wlio has so long enjoyed the 
confidence of his ecclesiastical superiors and the 
attachment of the flock confided to his care, was born in 
the County Carlo w, Ireland, in the year 1822, and was 
educated at Carlow College, from which he passed to the 
celebrated seminary of the Irish clergy at Maynooth. 

Having become connected with the Diocese of New 
York, he was assistant to the Rev. Dr. J. W. Cummings at 
St. Stephen's Church from the year 1857 till he began his 
labors in St. Grabriel's parish, two years later. The history 
of that church is the record of his exertions to give his 
parishioners a noble temple, while it evinces his care of 
their spiritual interests and his devotion to the educa- 
tion of their children. 

His zeal was manifested on many an occasion to 
be remembered, but was heroic during the teiTible draft 
riots, which for several days deluged New York City in 
blood. 

In the general care of his parish, and especially in 
the institutions for spreading among his flock the bene- 
fits of a sound Clrristian education, and in those catecheti- 



324 CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 

cal instructions which are given in the Sunday-schools, 
the Rev. Mr. Clowry has been ever an unremitting and 
zealous priest. 

He has, too, called in the services of those zealous 
priests belonging to religious orders who devote them- 
selves especially to giving missions in oui- churches, and 
whose instructions and exhortations rouse the dull, the 
torpid, and the negligent, by the picture of the fearful 
penalty they incur, while by portraying God's love and 
mercy they win them to a better life and encom'age 
the good to perseverance. 

The mission given in the parish of St. Gabriel by 
the Eedemptorist Fathers Wissel and Fetch, with their 
associates, in November, 1873, afforded gi-eat consolation 
to the reverend pastor. 

He has had the direction of the Sisters of Mercy of 
this city for many years, having been appointed to that 
charge by his Eminence Cardinal McCloskey. A more 
striking proof of the confidence felt by his Eminence in 
the sacredotal experience, judgment and prudence of the 
pastor of St. Gabriel's is seen in the fact that he has ^ 

selected him as a member of the Council of the diocese, 
whose advice he takes on all important matters. 




CHUROH OF THE HOLY CROSS 

WEST FORTY-SECOND STRKET. 



CHURCH OF THE HOLY CROSS. 

WEST FORTY-SECOND STEEET. 



THIS cliurcli recalls the memory of the first Cath- 
olic priest who is known to have visited Man- 
hattan Island and exercised his sacerdotal functions among 
civilized men npon it. Father Isaac Jogues, who was 
rescued by the Dutch from the hands of the blood-thirsty 
Mohawks, descended the noble Hudson with his deliver- 
ers, who, out of respect for one who had suffered so 
much in his labors to extend the gospel, named an island 
in the river after the missionary. 

Father Jogues was a lover of the cross, and in one of 
his writings styles himself a Citizen of the Holy Cross, 
because the cathedral of his native city, Orleans, was 
dedicated to the Holy Cross. In his devotion to the 
symbol of our salvation he composed a litany. 

A church above St. Columba's was called for about 
the year 1852, and the Most Eeverend Archbishop confided 
to the Rev. Joseph A. Lutz the task of looking after the 
spiritual interests of the faithful in that part of the city, 
many of whom had found it almost impossible to attend 
any of the churches regularly, especially with their 
younger children, on account of the distance. 

So impressed was Archbishop Hughes at this time 



CHURCH OF THE HOLY CROSS. 327 

with tlie wants of the CathoHcs in the city, that he re- 
solved to defer his cherished project of commencing the 
work of a new cathedral in order to give the Catholics 
in the city every opportunity of hearing mass and ap- 
proaching the sacraments. 

During the Jubilee there had been between seventy 
and eighty thousand communicants; and, as he inferred 
from this, there were at the time on New York island 
a quarter of a million of Catholics. He felt the urgent 
need of building at once eight or ten new churches. 
Looking rather at the pressing want than any aesthetic 
idea, he proposed to make them plain and solid, not to 
cost more than fifteen thousand dollars each. 

To carry out the work of church extension he pro- 
jected a society like that established in France to aid 
foreign missions, the well-known Association for the Pro- 
pagation of the Faith. A large association in which each 
member paid a weekly trifle would give a fund from 
which loans could be made to each new church, and 
when returned by it, loaned to others. 

On the 15th of February, 1852, at the close of his 
sermon in the Cathedral, he called a meeting after vespers 
and there unfolded his plans. 

The Church of the Holy Cross was one of the first 
fruits of his appeal; and though the projected association 
never attained the development he desired, it roused the 
Catholic body to renewed effort. 



328 CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF FEW YORK. 

The Rev. Mr. Lutz obtained a place as a temporary 
chapel in West Forty-second Street, between Eighth and 
Ninth Avenues, and in this Chapel of the Holy Cross 
gathered his new congregation. Roused by the words of 
their Archbishop and by a sense of their own needs, the 
faithful showed every appreciation of the advantages thus 
offered them of enjoying the ministrations of their holy 
religion in their midst, and the priest was encouraged to 
purchase ground for the erection of a permanent church. 
The temporary structure was well attended; lectures were 
delivered, and other means adopted to interest the Catho- 
lics in and around the parish in the good work. 

The corner-stone of the new church was solemnly 
laid, and the interest of the people and their pride in 
being among the first to carry out the Archbishop's wishes 
led them to strain every nerve to carry on the work 
without any useless delay. They were soon rcAvarded 
by its completion. It was not by any means a poor, 
plain structure, but a fine ecclesiastical edifice. 

The Church of the Holy Cross was finally completed 
towards the close of the year 1854, and was solemnly 
dedicated on the 17th of December in that year, by the 
Very Rev. William Starrs, Vicar General of the diocese, 
who, after the usual ceremony by which the Church 
blesses buildings for the offering of the divine sacrifice, 
which is the center and sun of the whole system of her 
worship, offered a Solemn High Mass, assisted by the 



CHURCH OF THE HOLY CROSS. 329 

reverend pastor, and by the eloquent Augustinian, the 
Yery Rev. Dr. Moriarty, who preached on the occasion. 

The cliurch thus erected by the Rev. Mr. Lutz in 
honor of the Holy Cross, was a brick edifice, constructed 
in Roman style, one hundred feet in depth by a width of 
seventy-five, capable of seating- fourteen or fifteen hundred 
comfortably. There was no elaborate ornamentation, but 
it was grand and imposing; the tall spire, towering one 
hundred and sixty feet, making it a conspicuous object 
in that part of the city. 

The Rev. Mr. Lutz, in 1855, was transferred to the 
Church of the Immaculate Conception. The Rev. Thomas 
Martin, O.S.D., was then sent to this church. Of his 
ministry here, Archbishop Hughes said : " From St. Brid- 
get's he went to the then hardly formed congregation in 
Forty-second Street, where, without haranguing, he began 
silently and noiselessly to work to show them their way 
through their difficulties until the people began to under- 
stand themselves and to be a congregation — a numerous 
congregation." Soon after, the Rev. Patrick McCarthy 
became pastor of the Holy Cross. During his pastorship 
the Church of the Holy Cross met with an accident 
hitherto unexampled in the history of the Catholic sanc- 
tuaries of the city. It was struck by Hghtning in 1867, 
and so injm-ed as to require a thorough examination. 
The result was by no means satisfactory. It was very 
apparent that the work had not in the first instance 



330 CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 

been properly done. Competent architects and bnilders 
pronounced the walls unsafe down to their base. 

The congregation found themselves deprived, as it 
were, of all their sacrifices and generous contributions. 
There was no alternative but to take down the church 
and rebuild it from the very foundation. 

The Rev. Mr. McCarthy at once began the neces- 
sary work. The old edifice was taken down, and the 
present Church of the Holy Cross was completed in the 
year 1870. It is a spacious, cruciform building, in the 
transition style of Byzantine. The depth is one hundred 
feet, and the width seventy-two feet, expanding to ninety- 
two feet in the transepts. Over the intersection of the nave 
and transept rises a cupola, lighting the sanctuary and 
nave. This is a dome on a square basis, graduall}^ run- 
ning into the octagon form, and finishing with a lantern 
semicircular in the ceiling and one hundred and twelve 
feet high from the church floor. The whole height from 
the street curb to the top of the cross surmounting the 
dome is one hundred and forty-eight feet. The front, 
which is massive and imposing, is of pressed Philadelphia 
brick trimmed with Belleville stone intermixed with pol- 
ished bluestone. In construction it is one of the most 
solid and substantial churches in the city. The altar is 
liandsome and imposing, composed of two arched towers, 
with a crenelated curtain between. In front of this 
stands the elegant tabernacle. Above it hangs a paint- 



CHURCH OF THE HOLY CROSS. 331 

ing of the Crucifixion, which was the altar-piece of old 
Holy Cross. 

The windows are filled in with rich stained glass, 
with appropriate designs, emblems, and monograms. 

The church was erected after the designs of Henry 
Engelbert, architect, and will seat, including the galleries, 
fifteen hundred, with standing room for six hundi'ed more. 

This fine church was dedicated on the 7th day of 
May, 1870, the feast of the patronage of St. Joseph. 
The ceremony was performed by the Very Rev. William 
Starrs, Vicar General of the diocese, assisted by a host 
of clergymen, including Rev. Father Daubresse, Rev. Dr. 
McGlynn of St. Stephen's, Rev. M. Curran of St. An- 
drew's, Rev. Mr. Gleason of Brooklyn, Rev. Mr. Conron 
of Staten Island, Rev. Mr. Bodfish, Rev. R. Brennan, 
and Rev. Dr. Burtsell. After the dedication a Solemn 
High Mass was offered, the reverend pastor being the 
celebrant, Rev. Messrs. Flanelly and Brophy deacon and 
subdeacon, and Rev. George Murphy master of cere- 
monies. The music, under the direction of the organist, 
Mr. Gomien, was a fine rendition of Haydn's First Mass. 
The Very Rev. Mr. Starrs preached — congratulated the 
congregation at the completion of a work which had en- 
gaged their anxious attention for the last two years. The 
church was, he said, rebuilt in a manner creditable to the 
generosity and charity of the people and the zeal and 
devotion of the pastor. 



332 CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 

After the commimion the Rev. Mr. McCarthy addressed 
his flock. ''They had had many trials and many diffi- 
culties to encounter," as he told them, ''hut with the 
blessing of God they had surmounted them, and the 
brilhant result was there visible to all. Again they were 
enabled to take their place among the churches of New 

York." 

The Rev. Patrick McCarthy remained in charge of 
the parish till his death, August 7th, 1877. He was 
ever zealous in the discharge of his duties, and was re- 
markable for his great charity and love of the poor. 
During his long pastorate he was assisted by several 
clergymen— the Rev. Patrick Egan for about six years, 
the Rev. J. Nilan for three, the Rev. W. Flanelly for 
five, the Rev. Martin J. Brophy for four, and by others 
for shorter terms. 

As parish priest of the Holy Cross, his Eminence 
next selected the Rev. Charles McCready, who still directs 
the congregation, assisted by the Rev. Maurice Dougherty, 
the Rev. Joseph Campbell, and the Rev. Joseph Smyth. 
The present pastor has freed his church from much 
of its heavy burden of debt, and besides done much to 
make the "Holy Cross" more fitting to elevate the heart 
to heaven. The liigh altar has been in part reconstructed 
and renewed in fine taste. The altar of the Sacred 
Heart has also been beautified, and surmounted by an 
elegant painting of Our Lord under that consoling title. 



CHURCH OF THE HOLY CROSS. 



333 



The parisli of the Holy Cross is well endowed with 
educational institutions. The Sisters of Charity have, 
within its boundaries, Holy Cross Academy, founded in 
1859, with a hundred and fifty young ladies as pupils ; 
St. Vincent's Industrial School, with a hundred and sixty 
pupils ; and a girls' parochial school, with six hundred 
pupils. 

The annual marriages in this church are about sixty- 
four; the baptisms over six hundred. Although the parish 
of the Sacred Heart was formed principally from Holy 
Cross about two years ago, there is very little diminution 
perceptible in the number of attendants or the income 
of the church. 



Roll of Honor. 



Archer, Charles, Mrs. 
Baily, Joanna M. 
Ball, Jane. 
Bardy, Matthew. 
Beglin, Michael. 
Berrigan, William. 
Bowes, John J., Mrs. 
Bowman, George. 
Brady, Thomas. 
Brogan, Patrick. 
Burke, James. 
Burke, Patrick, Mrs. 
Burns, James. 
Byrne, William P. 
Cain, Michael. 
Calhoun, Henry. 
Callan, Bernard. 
Carey, Cornelius. 
Carley, Patrick. 
Carroll, John. 
Carroll, Margaret, Miss. 
Carroll, Michael. 
Carroll, William. 
Caruther, Patrick. 
Casey, Bernard. 



Clarkin, Christopher P. 
Cleary, John. 
Clifford, Timothy. 
Coffey, Martin. 
Coffey, William. 
Cooney, James. 
Corey, William. 
Corkery, Daniel H. 
Costello, Patrick. 
Cowan, Patrick. 
Coyle, Catharine. 
Coyle, Dominick. 
Coyle, Francis H. 
Craden, Patrick. 
Crane, Owen. 
Crosby, Mary, Mrs. 
Cross, Michael. 
Curren, Patrick. 
Cushing, Thomas, Mrs. 
Cusick, Maggie. 
Davis, Benjamin. 
Delahant, Patrick. 
Delmore, James. 
Denue, Maria, Mrs. 
Devine, J. C. 



Devine, Margaret, Mrs. 
Dewhurst, James. 
Dewhurst, John. 
Disel, John N. 
Dobson, Francis. 
Doherty, Daniel. 
Dolan, Hugh. 
Dolan, James. 
Donnelly, Dennis. 
Donohue, Michael, Jr. 
Doran, Alice, Mrs. 
Downey, John. 
Doyle, C. M. 
Doyle, John, Mrs. 
Doyle, Thomas. 
Duane, Margaret. 
Duane, William. 
Duggan, John, Jr., Mrs. 
Dunn, Thomas. 
Dux, Jacob. 
Early, William. 
Edmonds, A. R., Mrs. 
Edwards, L. 
Fallahee, James. 
Farmer, William. 



334 



CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YOliK. 



Ferrell, Bryan. 
P'itzgerald, Johanna. 
Fitzpatrick, James. 
Flanigan, George. 
Flynn, James. ' 
Flynn, Joseph. 
Freeman, Hugh. 
Gallagher, John. 
Gallagher, Rodger. 
Garvey, J., Mrs. 
Garvey, Margaret. 
Gibbins, Austin. 
Gleason, Michael, Mrs. 
Gonnoud, James. 
Goodman, John. 
Gordon, George. 
Gordon, Robert. 
Grant, Thomas. 
Gray, Ann. 
Gray, John. 
Greenam, Edward. 
Griffiths, N. J. 
Guinevan, William. 
Hackett, Thomas. 
Haden, Joseph. 
Hagen, Matthew. 
Halligan, James. 
Halligan, Thomas. 
Hamblin, Jane, Mrs. 
Hand, Bernard. 
Hanson, Susan. 
Hart, John. 
Hart, Peter. 
Haviland, Ann, Mrs. 
Haydon, Mary, Mrs. 
Hennessy, William. 
Henry, John. 
Hepburn, William. 
Holbrook, John. 
Hughes, Hugh. 
Hughes, John. 
Hurst, George. 
Joyce, William. 
Kane, Patrick. 
Keating, William J. 
Keenan, Thomas. 
Kehran, James. 
Kiernan, Maggie, Miss. 
Kellehar, Thomas. 
Kelly, Daniel. 
Kelly, Henry. 
Kelly, Lawrence. 
Kelly, P. 
Kemble, James. 
Kennedy, James. 
]Ceys, I^Iary. 
Kinley, James. 
Kitson, Maria. 
Laracy, Michael. 
Leahey, Daniel. 
Leahy, Patrick. 
Leonard, Terence. 
Logan, J. J. 
Logan, Matthew. 



Lonergan, Thomas. 
Looran, Michael. 
Lulves, Otto. 
Lunny, Peter. 
Lynch, Hugh. 
McAdams, Thomas. 
McBain, Thomas. 
McCabe, James. 
McCann, Hugh Gregory. 
McCartney, Thomas. 
McCormick, Patrick. 
McCormick, William. 
McCue, James, Mrs. 
McCuUough, Henry. 
McCullough, John. 
McCullough, Peter. 
McDermott, James. 
McDonald, Patrick. 
McDonnell, Daniel. 
McDonnell, Peter. 
McGary, Bridget, Mrs. 
McGee, Michael. 
McGinley, Roger. 
McGinty, Catharine. 
McGirr, John. 
McGowan, Peter. 
McGrane, Anna, Mrs. 
McGuiness, John. 
McGuire, Eliza. 
McHugh, Michael. 
Mclntyre, Charles. 
Mclntyre, P. B. 
McKeever, John. 
McKenna, John. 
McKenna, Michael. 
McKevitt, Henry, Mrs. 
McLaughlin, P. 
McLoughlin, Dennis. 
McLoughlin, Peter. 
McLoughlin, P. J. 
McMahon, Patrick. 
McManus, John. 
McNabb, Elizabeth, Miss. 
McPartland, Hugh. 
McPartland, S. 
Maher, James. 
Mahon, Bridget. 
Mahony, Patrick. 
Male, John. 
Maloney, Dennis. 
Mardon, Fannie M., Mrs. 
Miller, John, Mrs. 
Molloy, John. 
Morrissey, Edward, Mrs. 
Morrissy, Jeremiah. 
Mulholland, James. 
Mullins, John. 
Murphy, John. 
Murphy, Patrick, Mrs. 
Murray, Hugh, Mrs. 
Murray, William. 
Nugent, John. 
Nugent, Patrick. 
Nunnery, P. 



O'Brien, James. 
O'Brien, John. 
O'Brien, Patrick. 
O'Brien, Thomas. 
O'Brien, Thomas J. 
O'Calahan, Timothy. 
O'Connor, Patrick. 
O'Donnell, Nicholas. 
O'Donovan, Jeremiah. 
O'Flaherty, Edward. 
O'Neil, P'rancis. 
O'Neil, George. 
O'Neil, Owen. 
O'Neil, Peter G. 
Payten, James. 
Phelan, Michael. 
Plumb, Emilie, Mrs. 
Powers, Lizzie. 
Purcell, William J. 
Quinlan, John B. 
Quinn, Henry, 
Quinn, Peter. 
Rafter, Margaret. 
Reid, M. 
Reilly, Jeremiah. 
Reilly, Luke. 
Reilly, Margaret. 
Reilly, Terence F. 
Reynolds, James. 
Reynolds, John. 
Roach, Ellen. 
Rock, Lawrence. 
Rooney, Hugh. 
Ruddy, Francis. 
Rulves, Otto. 
Ryan, Philip. 
.Secor, S. M. 
Seward, Michael. 
Sheedy, William. 
Sheridan, James. 
Sheridan, Mary. 
Sherry, Edward M. 
Shevlin, Hugh. 
Slevin, Catharine. 
Smith, Samuel. 
Spellissy, Denis A. 
Stack, John. 
Tallon, Eliza. 
Thorp, Patrick. 
Tracey, Patrick. 
Treanor, James J. 
Treanor, Matthew- 
Tulley, Michael. 
Victory, Thomas. 
Ward, Owen. 
Ward, William. 
Warren, Joseph. 
Warring, C. B. 
Washburn, Jethro. 
Welsh, Delia. 
Whelan, Michael. 
Whelan, Paul. 
White, John. 



( 



CHURCH OF THE HOLY CROSS. 335 

REV. CHARLES McCREADY, 

PASTOR OF THE CHURCH OF THE HOLY CROSS. 



THE pastor of the Church of the Holy Cross was 
born at Letterkenny, in the County of Done- 
gal, Ireland, in 1837, and after a course of classical 
study, in which his piety and ability were alike manifest, 
was selected by his Bishop, the late Dr. McGettigan of 
Raphoe, as a student from his diocese at Maynooth. 

In that venerable institution he justified the hopes en- 
tertained, but his thoughts were already turned to a field 
far from his native diocese. He came to America before he 
concluded his theological course, and entering Mount St. 
Mary's, Emmettsburg, finished his divinity studies while act- 
ing as one of the professors of that institution. Upon his 
ordination, in 1866, he was appointed assistant pastor at 
the Church of St. John the Evangelist, Fiftieth Street, 
New York, and for three years zealously discharged his 
duties in the large parish then attached to that church. 

In 1869 he was transferred to St. Andrew's Church, 
where he remained two years, when he was transferred 
to St. Stephen's. Here, during six years, a heavy share 
of parochial work fell to his lot, besides which he at- 
tended the numerous Catholic patients in Bellevue Hospital. 

His merits were recognized, and in 1877 his Emi- 



336 CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 

nence Cardinal McCloskey appointed him parish priest of 
the Holy Cross. He found his church struggling under 
a load of debt, which, notwithstanding the difficulties of 
the times, he resolved to reduce at once, and his efforts 
proved that he had not miscalculated his own zeal and 
energy, or the generosity of his flock. 

As the churches of the diocese have all been con- 
secrated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, he made it his 
great object to excite this devotion to our Lord in the 
hearts of his parishioners. The result was singularly 
consoling. The daily masses, at hours when the faithful 
workingmen can attend them, are frequented to a degree 
that is seldom seen; the confessionals, regulated so as to 
enable all to approach, are thronged ; and the fruits of 
the mission given by the Dominican Fathers seem of 
a most durable and permanent character. 

Deeply attached to his church, he has labored not 
only to make each of his flock a living temple of the 
Holy Ghost, by a truly Christian life, and a frequent 
participation in the graces of which the sacraments are the 
channels, but also to make the material chui'ch, in its 
outward beauty and neatness, all that can elevate the 
heart and attest the honor he desires to render to God. 

Laboring earnestly for the welfare of his flock, and 
for the progress of the young in the parochial and Sun- 
day-schools, the Rev. Mr. McCready has won the confi- 
dence and esteem of his people. 




CHURCH OF THE HOLY INNOCENTS. 

O*) WEST THIRTY-SEVENTH STREET. 



CHURCH OF THE HOLY INNOCENTS. 

WEST THIETY-SEVENTH STKEET. 



IN 1866, his Grace the Most Reverend Archbishop 
McCloskey felt, from the representations made to 
him, that a new chm-ch was needed about West Thirty- 
seventh Street. He confided a district to a clergyman 
who had ah-eady acquired experience in the care of souls, 
and those arduous duties that so often devolve on a priest, 
where he has to become a man of business, an archi- 
tect, and a financier as well as a clergyman. 

The new pastor found, at the corner of Thirty- 
seventh Street and Broadway, a small frame building, 
an Episcopal Church, known as the Church of the Holy 
Innocents, the Rev. Mr. Elmendorf being the pastor. 
The society was not prosperous, and the property was 
for sale. After some negotiation, in which, as often hap- 
pens, the price rose Avhen the object was discovered, 
the Rev. Mr. Larkin purchased the property, and soon 
after, other adjacent lots, so as to afford a site, not for 
the future church only, but also for a parochial resi- 
dence and the parish schools. The real estate thus ac- 
quired for Catholic use cost altogether a hundred and 
thirty thousand dollars. 



CHURCH OF THE HOLY INNOCENTS. 339 

Where we have acquired churches which a Protest- 
ant denomination had dedicated to our Blessed Lord, or 
any of the holy mysteries of his Life and Passion, or 
to any of the saints, it has been the custom to retain 
the name. In this case the same course was followed. 
The building- had been dedicated to the Holy Lmocents — 
those babes avIio confessed our Lord, not by their lips, 
but by their blood — who died by the blow intended in 
Herod's jealousy and fear for our Blessed Lord himself, 
the Infant Jesus. 

These first of the martyrs of our Lord are honored 
by the Church on the 28th of December, and their feast 
is one of those kept dm-ing an octave. She honors them 
too by invoking- them in the Litany of the Saints before 
all other martyi's. 

These holy children, baptized in their own blood, be- 
came the 2^^trons of the Catholic Church, which was 
opened in November, 1866. Having thus a temporary 
place for his flock, the Rev. Mr. Larkin began to prepare 
for the great and arduous work before him. 

The confidence inspired b}' the spirit and devotion 
of the Catholic population led him justly to plan a 
church, not for the moment merely, but one of such 
proportions as to meet the AAants of the parish for many 
years to come, and of such beauty that the congregation 
should not feel any desire for a nobler temple. 

The corner-stone of the new church was laid on 



340 CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 

the 20tli day of Jime, 1869, by his Grrace Archbishop 
McCloskey ; and after the venerable prelate had blessed 
the primary stone, and, kneeling before the cross reared 
amid the rising walls, recited the Litany of the Saints, 
and with holy psalms placed the stone in position, the 
Rev. Mr. Quinn, now Vicar General of the diocese, de- 
livered an address, which was listened to with earnest 
attention by the vast multitude gathered on the auspi- 
cious occasion. 

The work on the church was then pushed on vigor- 
ously, and the pastor and his flock were equally delighted 
when the period approached for its solemn dedication. 

The position of the church is such that it can be 
viewed so as to perceive its grand and striking propor- 
tions, making it a monument that attracts the eyes of all. 
It is a Gothic structure, seventy feet wide by one hundred 
and thirty in depth, built of Belleville stone, ornamented 
with trimmings of lighter Ohio stone. In the fagade 
is an elegant stained-glass window in honor of St. Cecilia, 
and in a niche above, an exquisitely carved statue of 
our Lord, wrought by an excellent sculptor in Milan. 
There are tlu-ee spacious entrances, well lighted by orna- 
mental lamps, for services late in the day. The interior has 
three aisles, giving fom- ranges of pews. The galleries, 
which increase greatly the' seating room, are supported by 
carved pillars, which arch gracefully to the roof. There 
are on each side eight large and seven clerestory win- 



CHURCH OF THE HOLY INNOCENTS. 341 

dows, all of stained-g-lass, insuring light and ventilation. 
These were all gifts of parishioners. 

The altar is of white marble, the altar-piece being 
a Crucifixion in fresco by Bmmidi. At each side of 
the altar stands a statue — the Blessed Virgin and St. 
Joseph — alongside of which fine paintings can be seen, one 
of them, a fine old canvas, showing the Massacre of 
the Holy Innocents. There is also a side altar dedi- 
cated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, above which is a 
painting of our Blessed Lord displaying his heart inflamed 
with love for mankind. The church will comfortably 
seat nearly fifteen hundred people. 

This fine structure was dedicated on the 13th of 
February, 1870, by the Very Rev. William Starrs, then 
Vicar General of the diocese. Mr. Starrs preached on 
the occasion, taking as his text the words of Genesis 
xxAdii. 16, 17, so appropriate to the occasion: "And 
when Jacob awaked out of sleep, he said: Indeed the 
Lord is in this place, and I knew not. And trembling 
he said : How terrible is this jDlace. This is no other 
but the House of God, and the gate of heaven." 

The large attendance of clergy, the music of Merca- 
dante rendered by a choir of forty-four voices, with the 
swelling tones of the organ and accompanying instru- 
ments, made the whole a scene to linger long in the 
hearts and memories of all present. 

At the vespers, in the evening, a brilliant and in- 



342 CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 

teresting discourse was delivered by the Rev. Dr. Boyle 
of Washington, who, taking as his text St. MattheAv 
xviii. 20, dwelt on the faith of the Church as formally 
declared by the Fathers of the Vatican Council. 

Including the site, the church and school cost three 
hundred and six thousand dollars, of which one hundred 
and twenty-five thousand dollars are still unpaid. The 
contribution of the amount already paid, besides what is 
necessary each year for the maintenance of divine wor- 
ship and the schools, is most creditable to this new con- 
gregation. Among the first and most generous subscrib- 
ers were Eugene Kelly, James Wallace, Henry L. Hoguet, 
Thomas and John Murphy, M. Fitzsimons, E. Martin, and 
Thomas Maher. 

The average attendance is about five thousand; five 
masses being said every Sunday, to enable every member 
of the congregation to fulfill the obligation of hearing 
mass. 

The parish school, which is directed by several Sis- 
ters of Charity and eight lay teachers, numbers nine hun- 
dred and fifty pupils. 

There are several societies connected with the church, 
one of the most important being the Building Associa- 
tion, whose zeal may be seen in the fact that in one year 
it raised ten thousand four hundred dollars. Besides this 
are the Temperance Society, R. H. Bermingham, President, 
and the Ladies' Temperance Society, Neal Farrell, Presi- 



CHURCH OF THE HOLY INNOCENTS. 343 

dent ; a Library Association, witli a collection of several 
hundred ' volumes ; an Altar Society ; while a Society 
of the Sacred Heart, a Sodality of the Blessed Virgin, 
and a Rosary Society, show how well every means is 
employed to keep religion alive in the hearts of the 
people. 

The Church cannot hut excite general devotion to 
the Holy Innocents. '^ Innocent victims," says the pious 
Butler, "became the spotless Lamb of Grod. And how 
great a happiness was such a death to these glorious 
martyrs ! They deserved to die for Christ, though they 
Avere not yet able to know or invoke his Name. They 
were the flowers and the first fruits of his martyrs, and 
triumphed over the world without having ever known 
it or experienced its dangers. They just received the 
benefit of life to make a sacrifice of it to God, and to 
purchase by it eternal life. Almost at the same time 
they began to live and to die ; they received fresh air 
of this mortal life, forthwith to pass to immortality; and 
it was their peculiar glory, not only to die for the sake 
of Christ, and for justice and virtue, but also in the 
place of Christ and in his stead. How few, perhaps, of 
these children, if they had lived, would have escaped 
the dangers of the world, wliich, by its maxims and 
example, bear everything down before it like an impetuous 
torrent ! What snares ! what sins ! what miseries were 
they preserved from by this grace ! With what songs of 



344 



CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 



praise and love do tliey not to all eternity thank their 
Saviour and this His infinite mercy to them!" 



Roll of Honor 



CHURCH OF THE HOLY INNOCENTS. 



Bannon, Bridget, Mrs. 
Brady, John. 
Campion, James. 
Clarkin, Bartholomew. 
Colwell, Patrick. 
DeVere, Auguste. 
Donohue, John. 
Fallon, John A. 
Feeley, William B., Mrs. 
Fitzsimons, Michael. 
Fox, Thomas H. 
Hendrick, Edward. 



Hoare, Thomas. 
Jordan, Mary Jane. 
Keenan, Josepli. 
Kehoe, Joseph. 
King, Grace. 
Kirby, A., Mrs. 
Larkin, Henr)'. 
McKeon, Peter. 
McMahon, Mary Ann. 
Maher, Thomas. 
Mainey, George. 
Welsh, John F. 



CHURCH OF THE HOLY INNOCENTS. 345 



THE REV. JOHN LARKIN, 

PASTOR OF THE CHUECH OF THE HOLY INNOCENTS. 



DEERPARK, in the Parish of Quansboro', County 
of Gralway, on the river Shannon in Ireland, is 
the birthplace of the Rev. John Larkin, the second 
priest of the name who has labored in the ministry in 
the Catholic churches of New York. Having passed 
through the grammar-school course, including the classics 
and mathematics, in his native place, he entered May- 
nooth College in 1843, where he completed his divinity 
course. At the instance of the Rev. John Kelly of 
Jersey City he made America the field of his mission 
labors, and in 1848 presented his credentials to Archbishop 
Hughes, by whom he was kindly received. But, being 
induced to move into the interior of the country, he was 
ordained in Baltimore by Archbishop Eccleston, for the 
Diocese of Pittsburgh. Immediately after his ordination 
he was appointed by Bishop O'Connor to fill the posi- 
tion of president of the seminary, during the temporary 
absence of his brother (the present Bishop of Omaha) 
on account of ill health. Subsequently the Rev. Mr. 
Larkin was appointed to the missions of Freeport and 
Clearfield, in the adjoining counties of Armstrong and 



84fi OATHOLTO CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 

Butler. The churcli in Freeport was unfinished and in 
debt; there was no church in Cleariield. In a short 
time, however, the church in Freeport was finished in a 
handsome style, and paid for. In Clearfield, where for- 
merly the Holy Sacrifice was offered up in private houses 
and barns, the neat church of St. John was built and 
some twenty-five acres of land procured for the church. 
Resident pastors being appointed -for each of these places. 
Rev. Mr. Larkin was placed in charge of all the missions 
of the County of Fayette, which embraced a large sec- 
tion of the Alleghany Mountains. During his stay here 
he paid off the debts of the church at Uniontown, which 
was much embarrassed. 

In 1855, Bishop O'Regan of Chicago visited Pitts- 
burgh, and having heard of Rev. Mr. Larkin's energy and 
devotedness, begged him to come to his aid in Chicago, 
where priests were very much needed. The necessary 
permission being obtained by the Bishop, he consented. 

On his arrival in Chicago he was taken as theologian 
to the Provincial Council of St. Louis. At this council 
an appeal was made to the bishops of the province for 
the cathedral of Chicago, whose debts of thirty or forty 
thousand dollars filled the bishop with consternation. 
This appeal being favorably received, Rev. Mr. Larkin 
was commissioned to collect, not only in St. Louis and 
tln-ough the province, but also in New Orleans, Boston, 
and other places. 



CHURCH OF THE HOLY INNOCENTS. 347 

Ha-\dng- labored for nine months in this difficult 
field, he returned to Chicago and was appointed pas- 
tor of Gralena, Avhere an unfinished church was on the 
eve of being- sold for debt. The former Catholic church 
had been destroyed by fire, and having- been uninsured, 
the Catholics Avere left without means or a place to wor- 
ship. B}" g-reat exertion the new church was saved to 
the cong-regation. The principal debt was paid, and the 
church so far finished that the congregation were able to 
use it. 

After having established schools, and having placed 
the congregation in a prosperous condition, the energetic 
priest left the West and came to New York City in 
1861, when he was again received by the Most Rev. 
Archbishop Hughes, by whom he was made assistant at St. 
Stephen's Church. Shortly after, he was appointed by his 
Eminence the Cardinal to the new parish of the Holy 
Innocents, where he has built a Gothic church — one of 
the largest and most beautiful in the city. His schools 
rank among the first in the country. He has also pro- 
cured a pastoral residence and other parochial buildings. 
The locality and the relations of these buildings to 
each other constitute this one of the best appointed ec- 
clesiastical properties in the Archdiocese. 




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CHURCH OF THE HOLY NAME OF JESUS. 

NINETY-SEVENTH STREET AND BEOADWAY. 



THE holy name of Jesus was to the disciples of 
our Lord all powerful. In it they cast out 
devils, they cured diseases.; they made the blind to see 
and the lame to walk. They gloried to suffer for it. 
Oiu- Lord had taught them that whatever they should 
ask in His name should be granted to them. Hence St. 
Peter proclaimed to the Jews : " There is no other name 
under heaven given to men, whereby we must be saved;" 
and St. Paul declared to the Gentile converts at Philippi 
that " God hath given him a name which is above all 
names : that in the name of Jesus every knee should 
bow of those that are in heaven, on earth, and under 
the earth." 

The Church has taught her children to revere this 
holy name, and to show their respect whenever it is 
uttered ; she has set apart a Sunday, soon after the feast 
of the Circumcision, to honor it in an especial manner, 
and by the Litany of the Holy Name she asks bless- 
ings through it. 

A church dedicated to the Holy Name of our Lord 
existed, as we have seen, for a brief period ; but a 



350 CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 

title so eminently and peculiarly Catholic was not to l)e 
lost. 

When, in 1867, the Most Reverend Archbishop con- 
fided to the Rev. Richard Brennan a new parish at 
Bloomingdale, extending from Seventy-fifth to One Hmi- 
dred and Fifteenth Street, the pastor piously placed his 
undertaking and his future church under the powerful 
protection of that name. 

The Bloomingdale Catholic Church Association was 
organized — M. T. Brennan, Esq., President, Charles Dowd, 
Secretary, and George Finnegan, Treasurer — and twenty- 
one lots were secured on Ninety-seventh Street and 
Broadwa}', extending- one hundred and forty-six feet in 
depth to Tenth Avenue, giving space for church, schools, 
and a presbytery. The site cost eleven thousand five 
hundred dollars. But while the new church rose from the 
ground, a frame building on Broadway, thirty-five feet 
in front by eighty in depth, was improved and en- 
larged to become the temporary church of the Holy 
Name. It was dedicated August 9, 1868; and here the 
Holy Sacrifice was offered, imploring the protection of 
heaven on the good work in that name to which such 
promises of fulfillment were attached. The comer-stone 
of the church was laid with the usual ceremonies, and 
every exertion made to complete the church as rapidly 
as it could be done, with due regard to solidity and 
endurance. 



CHURCH OF THE HOLY NAME OF JESUS. 351 

The solemn dedication took place on the 20th of 
December, 1868. From far and near, in spite of the 
wintry weather, the Catholics flocked to the new church, 
which was densely filled. The Most Reverend Arch- 
bishop McCloskey came to bless the church with holy 
rite, assisted by the Rev. Mr. McNeirny, now Bishop of 
Albany, Rev. Messrs. Quinn, Hecker, McDowell, Kesseler, 
Glackmeyer, Boyce, and Brennan. 

The procession in imposing array moved down the 
aisle and around the walls of the church, which were 
sprinkled and blessed to ask God to relieve them from 
the curse of man's fall, and make them contribute, not to 
the ruin but to the salvation of souls. The last notes 
of the holy rite died away, the incense floated through 
the air, as the procession retired. A Solemn High Mass 
followed, in which the Rev. Mr. McNeirny was cele- 
brant. Rev. Mr. McDowell of St. Michael's, deacon, and 
Rev. Mr. Kesseler of St. Joseph's, subdeacon; Rev. Mr. 
Brady, as master of ceremonies, giving to all symmetry and 
order. The Most Reverend Archbishop preached, taking 
as his text the words of the Psalmist: "I rejoiced at 
the things that were said me : We shall go into the 
house of the Lord." (Psalm xxi. 1.) He dwelt on the 
love of the Church for all that adds dignity to the wor- 
ship of God, congratulated the congregation on their 
courage in undertaking so noble a structure, and urged 
them to persevere till they saw their task completed. 



352 CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 

After the mass a Te Deum was finely g-iven, tlie 
music being- of a liig-h order, St. Joseph's choir rendering 
valuable assistance. 

The church was attended by its reverend founder 
for several years, gradually increasing in its numbers' and 
advancing in the jDractice of Christian duties under his 
care. A mission given by the Paulist Fathers, in May, 
1873, brought even the most lukewarm to a sense of 
their Christian duties. The sermons and exhortations of 
Rev. Messrs. Deshon, Dwyer, Elliot, and Rosecrans pro- 
duced as immediate fruit a thousand communions and a 
new spirit of faith. 

In 1875, the Rev. Mr. Brennan was transferred by 
his Eminence Cardinal McCloskey to the Chiu'ch of St. 
Rose of Lima, and tlie Rev. James Galhgan, the pres- 
ent pastor, was installed at the Church of the Holy 
Name, which has prospered in every way under his care. 

The pastors of tlie Holy Name omitted nothing to 
interest the congregation in the church, by establishing 
societies into which all might be induced to enter. The 
Rosary and Altar societies, the Cliildi-en of Mary, the 
Sodalities of' the Holy Angels, the Holy Childhood, and 
St. Aloysius, stimulate the piety of all ages and classes. 
The Young Men's Literary Society affords those attaining 
manhood the means of intellectual culture; the Conference 
of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul blends them to- 
gether in the great work of charity. 



CHURCH OF THE HOLY NAME OF JESUS. 353 



REV. JAMES M. GALLIQAN, 

PASTOR OF THE CHURCH OF THE HOLY NAME OF JESUS. 



THE present pastor of the Cliurcli of the Holy 
Name was born in the County Cavan, Ireland, 
and was educated at St. Patrick's College, in his native 
diocese, one of the greatest of 'the literary institutions 
in Ireland. After he had pursued the course of studies 
there for four years he resolved to make the United 
States the field of his missionary labors, and having 
come to this country he entered the Seminary of Our 
Lady of the Angels, near the Suspension Bridge over 
Niagara Falls. His course of studies was, however, sud- 
denly interrupted here by an untoward accident. The 
institution was destroyed by fire on the 5th of December, 
1864. He at once entered the College of St. Francis 
Xavier, New York, where he was graduated with honor 
in 1865. 

Eeceived as a student for the Diocese of New York, 
he was sent to the Pro^sdncial Seminary in Troy, and 
after his course of theological training was ordained in 
that city, in June, 1868. 

He was at once assigned to duty in St. Peter's 

Church, New Brighton, Staten Island. After this he was 
23 



354 CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 

assistant in a church of the same name at Poughkeepsie. 
He was then stationed at the Church of the Holy In- 
nocents, New York, where he rendered essential service 
to the Rev. Mr. Larkin, and is affectionately remembered 
by the congregation. 

He was appointed to the Church of the Holy Name 
on the 20th of July, 1875, and has guided with singular 
judgment a young and struggling church in these times 
of financial depression, when distress on every side ap- 
peals for the consolation of the minister of God, and 
when of course the means of doing good are less boun- 
tifully supplied. 

He gives special attention to catechetical instructions, 
and his Sunday-school numbers nearly three hundred 
pupils, who are provided with a good library; besides 
which there is also the Young People's Circulating Library 
for those more developed. 




CHURCH OF THE MOST HOLY REDEEMER. 

THIRD STREET. 



CHURCH OF THE MOST HOLY REDEEMER. 

THIRD STREET, BETWEEN AVENUES A AND B. 



THIS imposing church, dedicated to our Lord as 
the Redeemer of Mankind, is the principal church 
in the diocese of the religious order founded by St. Al- 
phonsus Liguori, Bishop and Doctor. It would not be 
easy to chronicle all that they have accomplished for the 
good of souls since their introduction into the United 
States. Their influence has beeii felt in every part of 
the country, by the bishops, priests, and devout writers 
whom they have given us. 

Three Fathers from" Vienna came to this country in 
1832, at the request of the R.t. Rev. Edward Fenwick, 
Bishop of Cincinnati. The Indian missions, on which they 
first entered, were not the field to which Providence des- 
tined them; but when in 1839 they established a con- 
vent in Pittsburgh, and in 1840 took charge of a German 
congregation in Baltimore, their work seemed to be en- 
dued with the most extraordinary vitality. 

In 1842, the Diocese of New York first received Re- 
demptorist Fathers. Here too the fast-increasing German 
Catholic population became their special field. The Most 



CHUECH OF THE MOST HOLY REDEEMER. 357 

Reverend Arclibishop applied to tlie Rev, Father Alexan- 
der Cvitchkowitz, Superior of the Redemptorists at Balti- 
more, for Fathers, intending to place the Church of St. 
Nicholas under tlieir care, but when the Rev. Gabriel 
Rumpler came, the trustees declined to yield the church 
to the order. 

The Most Reverend Archbishop was not inclined, 
however, to deprive his diocese of such a zealous com- 
munity. With his encouragement and sanction, Father 
Rumpler purchased lots in Third Street. On these, in 
1843, he erected a residence and school, and also a tem- 
porary church. It Avas a long, plain frame building, look- 
ing more like a ropewalk than a church, as you came 
in view of it ; but once you entered, you found your- 
self in a church, where all was piety, regularity, decorum, 
and devotion. 

This unpretending structure, one hundred and ten 
feet long and fifty-three feet wide, with two galleries, each 
fifteen feet wide, was completed in seven M^eeks, when 
once it was decided to erect a temporary structure for 
immediate use, while the more substantial edifice could be 
completed as means came in. It was solemnly dedicated 
to the service of the Almighty God on Monday, April 
8th, 1844, by Rt. Rev. John McCloskey, D.D., Coadjutor 
Bishop of New York, under the invocation of our Most 
Holy Redeemer. The walls and galleries were fairly hid- 
den in the evergreens and flowers which adorned them. 



358 CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 

A Pontifical High. Mass followed the dedication ser- 
vice, and a sermon was preached in the language of the 
flock by the Rev. Father Rumpler. The German Cath- 
olics of the district soon thronged the plain little frame 
church, and the zeal of the religious soon excited, in 
the most careless, higher and better feelings. It was 
evident that a great and salutary step had been taken 
for the spiritual welfare of the German Catholics in New 
York City. 

E.ev. Father Rumpler continued to mould his parish 
into shape and organize it thoroughly, for several ^^ears. 
In 1849 he was recalled to Baltimore, and the Rev. 
Father Joseph Mueller was appointed to guide it. God 
had so prospered their humble beginnings that the Re- 
demptorists felt courage to commence the erection of a 
church worthy of our exalted worship, for which no 
building conceived by the genius of man or framed by 
his skill in the materials God places in our control can 
be too grand or noble. 

Plans were accordingly prepared by a skillful architect 
for a fine church, and the comer-stone was laid, with 
exact observance of the prescribed rites, by tlie Most Rev. 
Archbishop Hughes, on the 21st of April, 1851. 

The church, as planned by Mr. Walsh the architect, 
rose rapidly, impressing all with its beauty and propor- 
tions. To the Protestant mind it was a wonder. It 
seemed some vast cathedral, not a mere parish church 



CHUKCH OF THE MOST HOLY REDEEMER. 359 

for Catholics of a single nationality. Wlien completed, it 
stood there indeed a remarkable pile. It is a beautiful 
specimen of the Greco-Roman or Byzantine style, eighty 
feet wide, seventy feet high, and one hundred and sixty- 
seven feet in length. Four massive pillars divide the 
front, and correspond to the chapels within. In the pil- 
lars are niches for statues of heroic size. Tlie interior 
or middle pillars rise thirty-four feet above the side pil- 
lars, and above these shoots a spire a hundred and 
forty-six feet higher, its cross two hundred and fifty feet 
from the ground. There are three doors in the front, 
surmounted by richly ornamented gables decorated with 
chamfers and niches. The middle door has eighteen feet 
span, and is twenty-four feet high. Above this is a 
middle window thirty-seven feet high — poui-ing tlu-ough its 
stained glass a mellow light on the galleries — and side 
windows in happy proportion, supported by beautifully 
turned columns. 

Three domes rise over the altars to a height of 
sixty-one feet ; the central one crowned by a belfry 
capped by a cross. There are three naves, with massive 
pillars ranged on either side, supporting its many arches 
and the groined and richly-corniced roof of azure set 
with stars. 

In the basement there is a fine chapel, nearly square 
in form. 

Such was the church that the Eedemptorist Fathers 



360 CATHOLIC CHUECHES OF NEW YORK. 

prepared for solemn dedication on tlie 28tli of November, 
1852. At an early liour vast crowds gathered, but the 
space in front of the church was kept clear by the 
Grerman Independent Rifles, and by the various benevo- 
lent societies, not only of New York, but of Brooklyn, 
Albany, Philadelphia, and Baltimore, each with banners 
and badg-es. 

The dedication ceremony was performed by the Most 
Reverend Archbishop Hughes, attended by the Rt. Rev. 
John M. Neumann, D.D., C.SS.R, Bishop of Philadelj)hia; 
Rt. Rev. John McCloskey, D.D., Bishop of Albany; Rt. 
Rev. Richard V. Whelan, D.D., Bishop of Wheeling; 
the Rt. Rev. Dr. Mosquera, Bishop of Bogota; with a 
multitude of priests and acolyies. The altars were then 
adorned and a Solemn High Mass celebrated. 

After the gospel, the Rt. Rev. Dr. McCloskey of 
Albany ascended the pulpit and preached an eloquent 
sermon, taking his text from the Apocalypse, 21st chapter, 
2d and 3d verses: "And I saw the Holy City, the New 
Jerusalem coming down from Grod out of Heaven pre- 
pared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard 
a great voice from the throne saying: Behold a taber- 
nacle of God with men, and he will d^vell with them. 
And they shall be his people: and God himself with them 
shall be their God." 

"It is natural, beloved brethren, that the sentiments 
which are uppermost within the breast should be the first 



CHURCH OF THE MOST HOLY llEDEEMER. 36I 

to seek for utterance ; and therefore is it that the words 
whicli I am prompted to address to you upon this trulj 
joyful occasion are words of sincere and earnest congratu- 
lation. I congratulate you upon the arrival of this long 
wished-for day. I congratulate the illustrious Archbishop, 
who honors you with his presence, and who has the con- 
solation to behold, this day, another beautiful and glo- 
rious temple raised to the honor of the living God and 
adorning his Metropolitan See. I congratulate in a special 
manner the zealous and pious Fathers whose hearts 
more than any others must at this moment overflow 
with feelings of thanksgiving and joy in this happy ac- 
complishment of their labors, their sacrifices, and their 
toils. I congratulate you, faithful and generous Glerman 
jDCople, and I congratulate all who are brought within 
these now hallowed walls and in the presence of this 
newly consecrated altar, to join in one common chorus 
of jubilation their united tribute of praise and prayer 
and thanks. A good work has been successfully accom- 
plished. A labor of love has been happily achieved. 
Here on this spot, by -the side of that rude and simple 
temple in which but yesterday you worshiped together, 
there rises in beauteous and striking contrast with it — 
an evidence not only of your increasing numbers, but 
also of your increasing generosity and zeal — a grand 
and glorious temple, fair in its proportions, majestic in its 
parts, honorable to the mind that conceived and designed 



362 CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 

it, creditable to the hands by whose industiy it was raised, 
and more especially to those by whose toils and sacrifices 
it has been brought to this crowning work here standing, 
and to stand a momiment of Catholic generosity and 
Catholic zeal existing in the hearts of the people. This 
is the temple of God, to be bequeathed as a precious 
legacy to your children, and your children's children, who, 
in ages to come, shall gather around this same altar and 
ofiPer up their fervent praise and prayers and bless the 
names and memories of their fathers. In all this, then, my 
beloved brethren, there is just cause for my congratula- 
tions, and abundant cause likewise for your joy. Yet 
this, after all, forms but a small portion of the real and 
more exalted reason for the festivity of this great day. 
You rejoice, and we all rejoice, because that upon this 
day this temple has been solemnly and religiously con- 
secrated to the worship of the one true and ever-living 
God. It was for Him that you have reared it. It is 
to Him that jou have this day offered it ; and it is 
therefore to the God of Heaven, who has this day ac- 
cepted 3^our offering, and He will come full soon to 
give the evidence thereof. He will come Himself to 
take possession of His sanctuary. He will come Himself 
to make it here His tabernacle — a tabernacle of God with 
men, where He shall be their God, and they shall be 
His people. The tokens of His presence will be given, 
not indeed as they were of old, in the fire that de- 



CHURCH OF THE MOST HOLY REDEEMER. 363 

scended from heaven to consume the sacrifice, nor in the 
coming down in a cloud, fiUing the temple awfully and 
terribly with His majesty, so that the priest could no 
longer administer therein, oppressed with the excess of 
glory ; but He will come with His divinity shadowed and 
His glory veiled. He will come, even with a real and 
more abiding presence. He will come in the humble 
garb of His humanity. He will come as a father and 
a friend to invite us to approach Him, to allow us to 
draw near, to listen to our prayers, to hear our sighs, 
and to receive us to His own loving embrace. And, 
oh ! my brethren, it is this great and mighty truth of 
Catholic faith that raises every Catholic heart on this 
proud day. It is this great truth of the real and abid- 
ing presence of Jesus Christ in the sacrifice and the sac- 
rament of our altars, that is the true heart, the true life- 
sjDring of Catholic piety and Catholic faith. It is this 
that is the source and centre of all our aspirations,, of 
all our desires, and of all our love. It is this that is 
the source of all that is grand, and all that is beautiful, 
and all that is majestic, and all that is holy in the 
Catholic Church — that spouse coming down from heaven 
prepared as a bride for her husband; and when God has 
chosen His tabernacle, He will be with you, your God, 
and you will be His people. 

* * R * * * 

""As your pious fathers, in the lands of your birth, 



364 CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 

raised you those glorious and majestic piles in honor of 
their faith, and in attestation of their piety and zeal, 
so here now, in this new land in which God has placed 
you — where He has blessed the fruit of your hands 
and the sweat of your brow — you will show that there 
is within you the same faith; that the same generosi- 
ty burns in your bosoms, and that there is the same 
zeal in all your actions and in all your thoughts. Oh ! 
then let us rally round that altar and around that sac- 
rament. Let us encircle it, not only with material bodies, 
but with souls full of faith, and full of piety and zeal. 
Let us love it. Let us come to it in our wants, in our 
misery, and even in our sin, that there we may be 
strengthened, that there we may be purified, that there 
we may be made whole, and that so at all times we 
may worship within its temple here, so that in another 
day we may be made worthy to Avorship in that other 
temple, where, brought into the light and brightness of 
God's own glorious presence, and prostrate before the 
altar of God, we may join in chorus with cherubim and 
seraphim and archangels and angels : 

"Amen. Benediction and honor and glory and 
praise and wisdom and power and divinity be to Him 
who sitteth upon the throne, and to the Lamb forever." 

The church, in spite of its vast size, was soon fullv 
attended, and school-houses adapted to the wants oi a 
large congregation speedily grew up beside the House of 



CHURCH OF THE MOST HOLY REDEEMER. 365 

God. That for the boys was under the care of the lay 
teachers, while the girls were placed under the direction 
of the experienced School Sisters of Notre Dame. The 
present school-house was blessed in November, 1873. 

The convent attached to the church was not merely 
for the Fathers in charge of the congregation, but was 
the residence of several devoted especially to the great 
work of giving missions in the various churches through- 
out the country, to which they were invited, in order, 
by their series of sermons, instructions, and private con- 
ferences, to arouse the faith of Catholics by a clear 
explanation of their doctrine and duties, and the respon- 
sibility resting on each. Protestants anxious to know the 
real faith and practice of Catholics often attended these 
instructions, and a mission seldom closed without seeing 
the Fathers receive some soul, long tossed with doubt, 
into the peaceful haven of the Church. The Redemptor- 
ists began their first English missions in 1851, and have 
left the impress of their labors in all parts. The Mis- 
sion Book, to keep alive the fruit of the mission, was 
published, and has been circulated by hundreds of 
thousands. 

Their convents are also open for private retreats by 
men who wish to devote a few days to self-examina- 
tion and prayer. 

The rectors of the Church of the Most Holy Re- 
deemer, after the Rev. Father Muellee, have been : — 



36G CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK/ 

1854, Rev. Joseph Helmpraecht, C.SS.R. 

1860, Aug., Rev. R. Kleineidam, C.SS.R, ad interim. 

1861, Feb., Rev. Laurence Holzer, C.SS.R. 

1862, May, Rev. Leopold Petsch, C.SS.R. 
1865, May, Rev. Maximilian Leimgruber, C.SS.R. 
1871, June, Rev. Joseph Wirth, C.SS.R. 

1877, July, Rev. Thaddeus Anwander, C.SS.R. 

The parochial schools at present contain six hundi-ed 
and ten boys, under eight Brothers of Mary, and five 
hundred girls under the School Sisters of Notre Dame. 

The same Sisters conduct an excellent academy for 
young ladies at No. 218 East Fourth Street, where sixty 
pupils pursue the highest branches of education. 

Attached to the church are the Archconfratemity of 
the Blessed Virgin Mary for the Conversion of Sinners ; 
the Confraternity of the Holy Family; Rosary, Purgato- 
rian and Altar societies, with several sodalities. 

The Reverend Fathers at an early period foimd that 
there was an especial want for an orphan asylum for 
the children of German parentage. This led to the estab- 
Hshment of the St. Joseph's Orphan Asylum, now at 
Eighty -ninth Street and Avenue A, under the School 
Sisters of Notre Dame. St. Francis Hospital, Nos. 407-409 
Fifth Street, is now under the care of the Sisters of 
the Poor of St. Francis ; and also receives the spiritual 
ministration of the Redemptorists. It contains about two 
hundi-ed patients, attended by thirty Sisters. 



{ 



CHURCH OF THE MOST HOLY REDEEMEE. 367 



EEV. THADDEUS ANWANDER, C.SS.R, 

RECTOR OF THE CHURCH OF THE MOST HOLY REDEEMER. 



THE Rev. Father Thaddeus Anwander, of tlie Con- 
gregation of the Most Holy Redeemer, an order 
of missionary priests founded by St. Alphonsus Liguori, 
B.C.D., was born at Wendelheim, in Bavaria, in the 
Diocese of Augsburg, October 28th, 1823. He made his 
early studies under the Benedictines at then- college in 
Augsburg, but completed his philosophical and theolog- 
ical studies at Freiburg, in Switzerland. He came to the 
United States on the 8th of Janua,ry, 1845, and was 
ordained priest by the Most Reverend Samuel Eccleston, 
Archbishop of Baltimore, December 6th, 1846. 

He was then employed on missions of his order in 
various parts — for several years in Baltimore, chiefly at 
St. Michael's Church; then in New Orleans, where he 
was for some years Superior ; then, after a time spent 
in Cumberland, again in Baltimore. 

On the 26th of October, 1868, he was made rector 
of St. James' Convent, connected with the church of that 
name, on Aisquith and Eager Streets, Baltimore. Subse- 
quent to this we find him at the Convent and House 



368 CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 

of Studies at Ilchester, Maryland, at the new mission at 
Cliatawa, Mississippi, where he was Superior; rector of 
the Convent of St. Joseph at Eochester in 1874, holding 
that position till his appointment, in July, 1877, as rector 
of the Convent of the Most Holy Redeemer in New 
York. 

It will be seen that he brings to his position as pas- 
tor of this important church, the experience of more than 
thirty years spent in the active duties of a missionary 
life, in all the various forms of priestly labor; and more- 
over, that administrative talent which has placed him dui'- 
iug the last ten years almost constantly in important 
situations as superior of houses and missions. 

He is also a member of the Council of his Emi- 
nence as Archbishop of New York. 

The community at the convent. No. 173 Third 
Street, in 1878, comprises, beside the rector, the Rev. 
Robert Kleineidam, C.SS.R.; the Rev. Rhabanus Preis, 
CSS.R; the Rev. Charles Kuenzer, C.SS.R.; the Rev. 
Charles Schmidt, C.SS.R.; the Rev. Matthias Kuborn, 
C.SS.R.; the Rev. John T. Blanche, C.SS.R.; the Rev. 
James Rein, C.SS.R. 




CHURCH OF THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION. 

EAST FOURTEENTH STREET. 

24 



CHURCH OF THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION. 

EAST FOUKTEENTH STREET. 



IN view of the increasing number of Catholics on 
the east side of the city, the Most Reverend 
Archbishop Hughes, in 1853, secured lots for a new 
church, which were, however, subsequently exchanged for 
the site now occupied by the Church of the Immaculate 
Conception. 

The late Sovereign Pontiff, the great Pius IX., on 
the 8th of December, 1854, declared it to be of faith 
that the Blessed Virgin Mary was never subject to orig- 
inal sin — that she was conceived without sin, and was 
thus ever inunaculate. Such had been the constant be- 
lief in the Church, though not distinctly defined. The 
faithful throughout the world showed their love and de- 
votion to Mary, hailing this act of the Vicar of Christ 
as a new crown of glory to their beloved patroness. 
Archbishop Hughes resolved to erect on the site already 
acquired a church of the Immaculate Conception as a 
monument of the great act of Pius IX. 

On the 15th of Jime, 1855, he appointed the Rev. 
Bernard Farrelly to commence the work. He was a 
young clergyman recently ordained, zealous and active. 



CHURCH OF THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION. 37I 

He collected the Catholics of his district in a temporary 
church on Fifteenth Street, on the 15th of August, and 
began collecting money to erect the church. His health, 
however, failed, and early in the autumn he was com- 
pelled to resign the undertaking. 

On the 25th of October, the Most Reverend Arcli- 
bisliop confided the undertaking to the E-ev. Jphn Ryan, 
an active and zealous priest who had already organized 
the first church at Yonkers, and erected the Church of 
St. Francis Xavier in New York City. 

He undertook the task of building up a church in 
the parochial district assigned to him, with all the zeal 
he had displayed in other fields. He soon enlarged the 
temporary chapel, in order to accommodate the faithful 
and give all the opportunity of hearing mass. 

Meanwhile the corner-stone of the new church was 
laid with appropriate ceremonies by the Very Rev. 
William Starrs, on the 8th of December, 1855, the 
Archbishop being absent. It was a time of financial 
distress and panic. Thousands were unemployed, £ind 
it was difficult to undertake and carry on the most 
essential work. The Rev. Mr. Ryan went on collect- 
ing for two years, pushing on the work of his church 
meanwhile. The ladies, to honor the Blessed Virgin by 
a fair, in November, 1857, contributed not a little to aid 
him in his work. The fair was held in the new church, 
and was visited by the Most Reverend Archbishop. 



372 CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 

He ascended the platform where the altar was soon to 
be erected, and addi-essed the large audience gathered 
there to hear him. He expressed his deHght at their 
number and at the beauty of the church. ''It is a 
proof," he said, " of your faith and your zeal to pro- 
mote so noble a work. When the dogma of which the 
church is to be a memorial and a monument was pro- 
claimed as an article of faith, I was but four or five 
feet distant from the Holy Father. Just at that moment 
I resolved on my return to Ncav York to erect a church 
to commemorate the event. I knew that the Catholics 
of this city would enable me to carry out that resolu- 
tion, but I desire especially that the ladies of New York 
— the children, the daughters of Mary — shall have the 
credit and honor of this church, raised as a monument 
of the Immaculate Conception. I feel happy that I have 
not been deceived or disappointed. How consohng to 
those who have contributed to this church, as well as to 
those who conduct and patronize this fair, to reflect that 
when they and all of us have passed away, and are con- 
signed to our last resting-place, to make way for another 
generation, many a heart will come before the altar to be 
here erected, burdened with a load of misery, to send peti- 
tions from this shrine to the throne of grace and mercy — 
that many such a heart will depart from here lightened 
of its burden, full of joy, of peace, and happiness." 

Thus encouraged, the fair met with great success, 



CHURCH OF THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION. 373 

SO that the good pastor was enabled to complete liis 
cliurclL It was dedicated May 16tli, 1858. The Most 
Reverend Archbishop, interested in a work which he had 
suggested and encouraged, came in person to bless the 
work, accompanied by the Rt. Rev. John Loughlin, D.D., 
Bishop of Brooklyn, and the Rt. Rev. John Barry, D.D., 
Bishop of Savannah, Besides the pastor of the new 
church and liis assistant, the Rev. Eugene Maguire, there 
were present clergymen from nearly all the city churches. 

The ceremony of dedication took place at eight 
o'clock, with the usual imposing effect, and the edifice of 
stone and brick was no longer a common house, but a 
temple sacredly set apart for the service of the Living 
Grod under the invocation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, 
conceived without sin. 

The awful sacrifice of the mass was soon offered 
with solemn pontifical rite at the newly hallowed altar, by 
the Right Reverend Bishop Loughlin of Brooklyn, with 
deacon and subdeacon. His Grace Archbishop Hughes 
then delivered a sermon, taking as his text the words 
of the Psalmist: "How lovely are thy tabernacles, O 
Lord of hosts. My soul longeth and fainteth for the 
courts of the Lord. My heart and my flesh have re- 
joiced in the living Grod. For the sparrow hath found 
herself a house : and the turtle a nest for herself, where 
she may lay her young ones. Thy altars, Lord of 
hosts: my king, and my God." (Psalm Ixiii. 2-4.) After 



374 CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 

dwelling on the nature of the consecration and dedica- 
tion of churches, he said : " This church has received 
not merely the ordinary blessing. There is a most im- 
portant consideration to be added to the sacred ceremony. 
It is the first church on earth which has been set apart 
to the honor of the dogmatical doctrine of the immacu- 
late nature of the Mother of Clu-ist. The church is 
doubtless dedicated, as all others are, to the Supreme 
Being, but it is placed under the special care of the 
Blessed Virgin as Mary Immaculate. It is the fii'st 
sacred consecration to the truth of the Immaculate Con- 
ception — to the declaration that the Holy Virgin was 
never sullied by any taint of original sin." He then 
explained the doctrine, so generally misunderstood ; went 
over the ceremony of dedication, and showed how con- 
sonant it was with Scripture and the early records of 
Christendom. " For so unworthy a minister of Christ 
as myself," he continued, " I think it sufficient happi- 
ness that I have lived to see this last great evidence 
of the mercy of God to man pronounced as a doctrine 
by the Head of the Church on earth. I had the hap- 
piness to be present at the time that the Immaculate 
Conception was so declared, and I could not help think- 
ing even then how well it would be for the ■ Catholics 
of New York to consecrate a temple to God in honor 
of the event — an event for which every pious Christian 
can never cease to bless God." 



CHUECH OF THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION. 375 

The zealous founder of the church remained its 
pastor till his death, March 22d, 1861. He had been 
assisted during his pastorship by the Rev. Messrs. Mc- 
Evoy, Lutz, Maguire, and Oliver O'Hara. The Rev. Dr. 
William Plowden Morrogh was then appointed, and his 
pastorship extended till his death, in Italy, October 23d, 
1875. During his long incumbency he was assisted by 
the Rev. Messrs. C. A. Farrell, P. J. Maguire, John J. 
Hughes, George C. Murphy, and Patrick Malone. 

Dr. Morrogh was a priest of learning and ability, 
who went from St. Joseph's Seminary to the Propa- 
ganda, where he won his doctor's cap. On his return, he 
was President of St. Joseph's Theological Seminary and 
pastor of the Church of Our Lady of Mercy. 

He erected, early in 1864, a fine school- house adjoin- 
ing the church, and furnished it thoroughly. Finding 
the chmxh too small, he began, about 1871, to extend 
it to Fifteenth Street. Notwithstanding liis failing health, 
he was able to complete this work, making it one of the 
finest churches in the city. The altar is of marble, sur- 
mounted by four stained chancel windows, on which are 
representations of the Saviour, the Blessed Virgin, St. 
Joseph, and St. Ann. Under these windows are statues 
of the Blessed Virgin and child, St. Catharine, St. Teresa, 
St. Peter, and St. Paul. Handsome altars, dedicated to 
St. Joseph and the Virgin, stand at either side of the 
grand altar, while figures of St. Patrick, St. Vincent de 



376 CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 

Paul, St. Andrew, and St. Bridget, decorate tlie stained 
windows at either side of the sanctuary. 

The assistants during the term of Dr. Morrogh were 
the Rev. Richard Brennan, Rev. Christopher A. Farrell, 
Rev. William Hussey, Rev. F. St. John, Rev. J. Pro- 
fillat, Rev. P. McGuire, Rev, John Hughes, Rev. George 
C. Murphy, Rev. P. Malone, and Rev. John S. Colton. 

The chm'ch has, since 1875, had as parish priest 
the Rev. John Edwards, who is assisted in his arduous 
duties by the Rev. Patrick Malone, the Rev. John Doyle, 
the Rev, Denis P. O'Flynn, and the Rev. Edward 
Slattery. 

The parish schools, organized soon after the erection 
of the church, have been fostered with zealous care. 
The boys, who number nine hundred and twenty-six, are 
under the direction of seventeen lay teachers, while the 
girls, who are guided by the Sisters, number eleven 
hundred and thirty-six. The Catholic population of the 
parish, by actual count in 1878, was 16,940. 

There are many flourishing societies connected with 
the church — the Ladies' Sodality of the Blessed Virgin, 
the Sodalities of the Holy Infancy, of the Holy Angels, 
of the Holy Name; the Living Rosary, Sodality of the 
Sacred Heart of Jesus, Young Men's Immaculate Concep- 
tion Sodality, St. Aloysius Sodality, the Immaculate Con- 
ception Mutual Benefit Temperance Society, and Confer- 
ence of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul. 



/ 



CHURCH OF THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION. 



377 



REV. JOHN EDWARDS, 



PASTOR OF THE CHURCH OF THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION. 



THE energetic pastor of the populous parish of the 
Immaculate Conception was bom in Killaloe, 
in the County Clare, Ireland, and was baptized in the 
church of his native place on the 12th of January, 1833. 

His early education was received in the local schools ; 
but when the family, in the spring of 1849, emigrated to 
this country, he came to the land which figures so brightly 
in the dreams of many a youtL 

His father settled at Hartford, where the young man 
spent the next four years ; then, eager to continue his 
studies, he came to Ncav York. After three years, his wishes 
were realized, by his entering the College of St. Francis 
Xa^der. Here he became an earnest student, and so at- 
ti'acted the attention of the Fathers by his faculty for 
teacliing that he was induced to take charge of one of 
the classes of the college 

Here he remained until the fall of 1864, when, anx- 
ious to complete his theological course, he entered the 
Provincial Seminaiy at Troy, which had just been opened. 
He passed rapidly through his course, was ordained sub- 
deacon in May, 1866, and appointed by the Bishop 
treasurer of the Seminary. He received the order of 



378 CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 

deacon on August 16th, and was ordained priest by the 
present Cardinal Archbishop, on August 17th, 1866. 

He continued to labor in the seminary for seven 
years. When he returned to New York, he was sent to 
help the good Dr. Morrogh at the Church of the Imma- 
culate Conception. 

The heavy cares of the pastorate, and his imtiring 
exertions in the cause of Catholic education, so told upon 
the doctor's health that he was compelled to seek rest 
abroad. The Rev. Mr. Edwards was appointed to take his 
place and continue his work ; and on the death of the 
doctor, which occurred the following year, at AlJ)ano, 
Italy, he became his successor. 

Devoted for so many years to the cause of education, 
he could not be indifferent to the wants of the children 
in the parish. The school-house erected by the zeal of 
Dr. Morrogh, and the generosity of his people, immense as 
it seemed, proved inadequate when Rev. Mr. Edwards, by 
actual count, learned the number of adults and children in 
his district. He resolved that not a Catholic child of the 
parish of the Immaculate Conception should remain outside 
his schools for want of proper accommodations. He has re- 
cently obtained a tenement house in the rear of the paro- 
chial school, and by removing the partitions and putting it 
in proper condition, is able to accommodate four hundred 
more children; and yet, at the beginning of 1878, the 
schools contained over two thousand children, under 
twenty-eight teachers. 



CHURCH OF THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION. 



379 



R 



OLL OF 



H 



ONOR 



[EAST FOURTEENTH STREET.] 



Alsheimer, Andrew. 
Archer, John. 
Brady, Patrick. 
Brown, James. 
Burns, Timothy. 
Butler, Margaret, Mrs. 
Casey, Hugh. 
Conaghy, Patrick. 
Connelly, Mary A., Mrs. 
Corrigan, William. 
Costigan, James. 
Cunningham, John. 
Cunningham, Patrick. 
Dalton, Thomas. 
Daly, Thomas. 
Donlan, Michael J. 
Duffy, Nicholas. 
Egan, Michael. 
Fagan, John. 
Fagan, Thomas. 
Finnen, John. 
Gallagher, William. 
Gibney, James. 
Gillespie, Peter. 



Goggin, Joseph R. 
Golden, Michael. 
Goodman, Patrick. 
Gough, Michael. 
Grinnon, Lawrence. 
Hayes, Michael. 
Higgins, James F. 
Hirchy, Denis. 
Hughes, John. 
Hurley, John. 
Keegan, Patrick. 
Kelly, Owen. 
Kelly, Patrick. 
Kelly, Thomas. 
Knape, Carl A. 
Lestrange, John. 
Loonan, Thomas. 
Lynch, John. 
McCabe, Charles F. 
McCann, John. 
McDermott, Phihp. 
McGough, Terence. 
McGuire, Bartholomew. 
Mclnerny, William. 



McQuade, Arthur J. 
Masterson, Patrick. 
Maxcy, D. 
Mohan, James. 
Monaghan, Thomas F. 
Moore, James. 
Moore, James, Mrs. 
Mulcahy, Edward. 
Mulready, Owen. 
O'Brien, Hugh. 
O'Connell, John. 
O'Hare, Henry. 
Purcell, Thomas. 
Raymond, George. 
Reilly, Thomas B. 
Relger, Thomas. 
Rowe, Thomas. 
Rush, Sebastian. 
Skelly, James Joseph. 
Smith, Honora, Mrs. 
Timoney, Francis. 
Tracey, John. 
Trainor, James. 
Wiegers, Ehza, Mrs. 




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CHURCH OF THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION, 

ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY-FIEST STREET AJ^D THIRD AVENUE, 

MELROSE. 



IN the year 1852, the Rev. Caspar Metzler, a Ger- 
man priest, then recently added to the diocese, 
began, with the encouragement of the Most Reverend 
Archbishop, to collect his Catholic countrymen who had 
settled in what was then known as Melrose, a new 
town in Westchester County. The parishioners were 
neither numerous nor largely endowed with this world's 
goods ; but, rejoicing to have a priest to minister to 
them, they erected a little wooden church, and some 
years later built a brick house for the residence of their 
pastor. 

The church was dedicated May 29th, 1853, to the 
Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, by 
the reverend pastor, assisted by other clergymen who 
came to encourage him in his good but modest work. 
In this humble shrine the Catholics continued to meet 
for several years. Rev. Mr. Metzler remaining their parish 
priest till the year 1864, when he was succeeded by the 
Rev. M. W. Kaider, who remained about two years. 
The Rev. Francis Karel, now chaplain of the Missionary 



382 CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YOEK. 

Sisters of St. Francis at Peekskill, was parish priest till 
1872, when the Most Eeverend Archbishop confided the 
mission to the Rev. Joseph Stumpe. He found the 
church far too small for the congregation which had 
grown up there; and, though tolerable as a temporary 
chapel, not such an edifice as his congregation should 
be able to show as an evidence of their attachment to 
the faith, and of their sense of the dignity of the divine 
worship. 

Before he had been many years in the parish, the 
question was agitated of annexing to New York City 
the southern part of Westchester County. This project 
was finally carried out, and in the running of new 
streets and grades, the very existence of the old church 
was endangered. One Hundred and Fifty-first Street was 
cut down some twenty-five feet, making the position of 
the old church and the pastoral residence extremely 
dangerous, so that the former had to be torn down, 
while steps were taken to move the house. 

The reverend pastor did not proceed rashly, as his 
congregation was not a wealthy one, and the times • were 
extremely difiicult, many being unemployed and con- 
strained to use every economy, who, under other cir- 
cumstances, would have given generously to so sacred a 
cause. But there was pressing want of a school-house ; 
and, bad as the times were, the Rev. Mr. Stumpe had 
felt that this could no longer be deferred. He accord- 



CHURCH OF THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION. 383 

ingly began the erection of St. Mary's Literary Institute, 
a commodious school-house, on One Hundred and Fifty- 
first Street, which he completed in the year 1875. It is 
one hundred and seventy-five feet in front by sixty in 
depth. In view of the necessity of abandoning the old 
chapel, the Rev. Mr. Stumpe fitted up the second floor 
of the new edifice as a very beautiful little chapel. 

On Sunday, October 3d, 1875, this little chm-ch, to 
the joy of the Catholics of Melrose, was solemnly dedi- 
cated to the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin 
Mary. The Rt. Rev. Thomas A. Becker, D.D., Bishop of 
Wilmington, Delaware, performed the ceremony, many of 
the city clergy, mth the Very Rev. William Quinn, Ad- 
ministrator of the Diocese during the absence of the 
Cardinal, being present. After the chant of the Litany 
and Psalms had ceased, and the prayer been said which 
gave that place to God's service and asked the Al- 
mighty to remove far from it the curse which by 
Adam's sin fell on all things, a Solemn High Mass was 
oifered on the new blessed altar. 

The Right Reverend Bishop of Wilmington officiated 
pontifically, with the Rev. F. W. Gockeln, S.J., President 
of St. John's College, as assistant priest; Rev. J. Sorg of 
Tremont as deacon. Rev. J. B. Bogaertz of New Orleans 
as subdeacon, and the Rev. Mr. Stumpe, the pastor of 
the church, as master of ceremonies. The music for the 
occasion was of a high order. Weber's Mass in G was 



384 CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 

finely rendered by the choir; while at the Offertory 
Verdi's " Salutaris " was sung with gi"eat feeling. 

After the gospel, the Rev. Dr. McGlynn of St. Ste- 
phen's Church preached, taking as his text, "I am the 
Bread of Life." (St. John vi.) At the close of the holy 
sacnfice the Bishop gave his episcopal benediction. 

The new part of New York was thus dedicated to 
the Immaculate Conception, as the old city had already 
been. Besides the two chm-ches thus named to honor 
her especial privilege, other churches attest the devotion 
of New York to the Mother of God. Besides St. Mary's, 
there are the Church of the Annmiciation, the Chiu'ch 
of our Lady of the Rosary, the Church of the Mother 
of Sorrows, the Church of the Assumption. 

While preparing to erect the church which is to 
bear the same title that the parish has now assumed, 
the reverend pastor has labored to bring his schools up 
to the highest standard of excellence. He may not be 
able to lay together the stones of a material temple, 
but he can form the living members for the church of 
the next generation, without whom, well instructed and 
grounded in the faith, the finest church must in a few 
years become vacant and deserted. 

His school for boys is under the care of the expe- 
rienced Brothers of the Cln'istian Schools, and number 
two hundred and thirty; the girls' school, somewhat more 
numerous, with three hundred pupils, is taught by Sisters 



CHURCH OF THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION. 



385 



of Christian Charity, a community founded in Grermany 
by the Countess MaHnkrodt, the sister of the great Cath- 
oHc leader. Driven from Germany like so many other 
Catholic religious, of both sexes, by a ruler who dis- 
graces the nineteenth century by persecuting and hound- 
ing down women for religion's sake, these good ladies 
sought a refuge in America, and have made Melrose their 
first house, connecting in our land the exercises of the 
convent life with the name of Scotland's fairest abbey. 

The new church to be erected on the spot already 
hallowed by so frequent an offering of the unbloody 
sacrifice, will be a fine Gothic church of cruciform style, 
presenting to the view a front of eighty-four feet; and 
as you enter the portal, a nave of one hundred and 
eighty-four feet in length will lead up to the holy altar. 



Roll of Honor 



Ahrens, Michael. 
Alf, John. 
Ambach, Conrad. 
Amon, George. 
Andreas, John. 
Angerich, Joseph. 
Anton, Peter. 
Arnold, Susanna. 
Bachmann, John. 
Bauer, Ernest. 



Bauer, M. 
Becker, Michael. 
Bender, Joseph. 
Brandt, George. 
Biichelberger, Bernhard. 
Buhr, Nicholas. 
Burkhardt, George. 
Burkhardt, Michael. 
Curley, Bridget. 
Dennerlein, John. 



Driever, William. 
Egbert, Joseph. 
Englert, Sebastian. 
Evans, William. 
Faulhaber, J. 
Fisher, Frank. 
Frey, Joseph. 
Frohnhofer, Lorenz. 
Geiger, Michael. 
Geller, M. 



25 



386 CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 


Gluck, William. 


Lanzer, Louis. 


Sauter, Vinzenz. 


Greubel, John. 


Lebert, John. 


Schaefer, Peter. 


Greubel, Nicholas. 


Leifer, Reinhardt. 


Schiesser, John. 


Giintling, John. 


Loeble, Isidor. 


Schmidt, Adam. 


Haffen, Carl. 


Lucht, Jolin. 


Schneider, George. 


Haffen, John. 


Martin, Nicholas. 


Schonhardt, Wendelein. 


Haffen, Matthias. 


Massert, Franz. 


Schott, John. 


Hauswald, Anton. 


Mayberger, Joseph. 


Schiissler, Casper. 


Hecht, Babtist. 


Meckel, John. 


Schwabius, George. 


Hecht, Catharine. 


Mehlem, John. 


Seufert, Catharine, Mrs. 


Hefele, Henry. 


Meise, Henry A. 


Smith, Gregory. 


Hefele, Joseph. 


Merklinger, Catharine. 


Spiehler, Anton. 


Hefele, Simon. 


Messerschmitt, Adam. 


Staab, Adam. 


Heilmann, Elizabeth. 


Messerschmitt, Joseph. 


Stein acker, Peter. 


Henning, Amelia. 


Messinger, Jacob. 


Straub, Joseph. 


Herd, Nicholas. 


Meyer, Anton. 


Stumpf, Casper. 


Hester, Lorenz. 


Meyer, Franz. 


Stye, Franz. 


Hoffmann, John. 


Miller, Frederick. 


Tonner, John. 


Holm, Henry. 


Miller, Jacob. 


Tonner, Nicholas. 


Hubert, John. 


Miller, John. 


Trotter, George J. 


Hutzler, George. 


Nagengast, George. 


Truhe, August. 


Illig, Catharine. 


Newett, Ignatius. 


Unlandherm, H., Mrs. 


lUig, Maria. 


Nimphius, John. 


Vetter, Franz. 


Kaiser, John. 


Norz, John. 


Vogel, Jacob. 


Kaiser, William. 


Oprecht, J. G. 


Vogler, George. 


Kalsch, Elizabeth, Mrs. 


Piatt, Peter. 


Volkommer, Peter. 


Karl, John. 


Pregenzer, Henry. 


Vorndran, C. 


Kaufmann, Michael. 


Pregenzer, Philip. 


Wagner, John. 


Knauer, John. 


Preiser, Peter. 


Walter, Simon. 


Kneipel, Frederick. 


Reis, Andreas. 


Weber, George. 


Krebs, Carl. 


Reis, Lorenz. 


Werdehoff, Anton. 


Kretzer, Casper. 


Reis, Peter. 


Werthmann, Gottfried. 


Krewet, John. 


Ritter, Christian. 


Wey, Peter. 


Kullmann, A. 


Rohr, Michael. 


Willig, Franz. 


Kullmann, Isidor. 


Ruff, J. 


Ziigner, Lorenz, 


Kurz, Paul. 


Sauter, Louis. 





CHURCH OF THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION 387 



REV. JOSEPH STUMPE, 

PASTOK or THE CHUECH OF THE IJLMACULATE CONCEPTION, 

MELEOSE. 



THE reverend gentleman under whose intelligent 
care and zeal the Chiu'ch of the Immaculate 
Conception promises soon to rival any in the city, was 
born October 3d, 1841, at Ibiu"g, in the Diocese of Os- 
nabm-g, in what was then the Kingdom of Hanover. After 
his early studies in one of the thorough German schools, 
he coiTesponded to the call of divine grace and prepared 
to devote himself to the sanctuary. America, with its 
vast needs, came before him as a field for the exercise 
of the ministry ; and he crossed the ocean to offer him- 
self to some diocese where he could be made useful. 
Completing liis theological course, he was ordained, July 
4th, 1866, by the late Right Reverend Josue M. Young, 
D.D., Bishop of Erie, and labored with fruit for some 
years in that diocese. He erected the new chm-ch of 
St. Joseph, on Federal Hill in the City of Erie, and 
directed the congregation attached to it from 1866 to 
1869. He was then made pastor of the Church of 
the Inmiaculate Conception, at Brookville, in Jefferson 



388 CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 

County, Pennsylvania. The climate of the lake shore, 
however, proved very trying to his constitution, and he 
was at last forced to seek a change. He came to New 
York well recommended by his ordinary, and was soon 
intrusted by the Most Reverend Archbishop McCloskey 
with the care of the flock over which he now presides. 
He was appointed pastor of the Church of the 
Immaculate Conception, at Melrose, in 1872, and has been 
actively engaged in his duties since that time, as we have 
already seen. 

His career has won the approval of his prelate and 
the affection of his people. His zeal for education has 
induced his flock to new courage, and to more than ordi- 
nary exertions for the proposed temple. 




CHURCH OF SAINT JAMES 

JAMES STREET. 



CHURCH OF SAINT JAMES. 

JAMES STREET. 



TWO of tlie present Catliolic cliurclies in tlie cit}^ 
originated from one, tlie name of which has 
not been perpetuated by either. These are St. James' 
Church in James Street, and Transfiguration Church in 
Mott Street. Both these sprang from Cln-ist Church in 
Ann Street, a church which, during its existence, was 
under the pastoral care of a learned and most exem- 
plary priest, the Rev. Felix Varela. 

He was born in Havana, Cuba, in 1788, and so 
distinguished himself for learning and piety that after 
his ordination he was appointed Professor of Philosophy 
in the College of San Carlos. He published a course of 
philosophy in Latin and in Spanish, that showed great 
ability, while his sermons and discourses gave liim a 
widespread reputation. So completely did he obtain the 
confidence of the people of Cuba, that he was elected 
to represent the island in the Cortes at Madrid. On the 
overthrow of the constitutional government he was pro- 
scribed, and, retiring to Gibraltar, came to the United 
States, in December, 1823. His merit was soon recognized, 



CHURCH OF ST. JAMES. 391 

and the next year lie was appointed assistant at St. Peter's. 
That church had already become too small to accommodate 
the Catholics in the lower part of the city, and the E.t. 
Rev. Bishop Dn Bois resolved to lay off a new parish on the 
eastern side of Broadway. This he confided to the Rev. 
Mr. Varela, whose baptismal entries begin February 24th, 
1825. Cln-ist Church in Ann Street, a stone structure 
sixty-one feet front by eighty in depth, which had been 
erected in 1794, and occupied for some years by the 
Episcopalians, was purchased by Bishop Du Bois for 
nineteen thousand dollars, March 3, 1827. The money 
was borrowed from a pious Spaniard. The edifice was 
then fitted up as a Catholic church, and solemnly 
blessed. Here the Rev. Mr. Varela labored zealously 
for several years, endearing himself to his flock by his 
piety, devotedness, and unbounded charity towards the 
poor. His pen was never idle. Not only did he con- 
tinue writing works in Spanish, to diffuse true Catholic 
principles in his native island, but in English he met 
the assailants of the Church Avith a learning, a skill, 
and a perseverance which they did not expect. 

During the year 1832, the terrible cholera season, 
he was assisted by the Rev. Joseph A. Schneller, but on 
the 27th of October, 1833, during service in the church, 
and while the priest was actually administering Holy 
Communion, a terrible panic arose. Excavation for an 
adjoining building had so strained the walls of the 



392 CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 

church that a large crack was made in the wall. For- 
tunately no lives were lost. Examination shoAved that 
the building was yet firm; but it began to yield, and 
soon after was found to be so insecure that it could no 
longer be used by the large congregation. Christ Church 
had to be abandoned, as it was found incapable of being 
restored. This was all the more to be regretted as the 
congregation was prospering and a free school had just 
been opened. Steps were taken to erect a new and 
suitable building, and lots in James Street were purchased 
by the bishop for that purpose. Meanwhile, rooms at 
No. 45 Ann Street were taken, and subsequently the 
second floor of No. 33 Ann Street, a large and airy hall, 
was hired as a chapel and blessed August 2d, 1835. 

A meeting had been called at Christ Church in May 
by Bishop Du Bois, inviting all friendly to the erection 
of the new church in James Street to assemble, but 
most of the old congregation seemed averse to transfer- 
ring their parish church so far. 

The Rev. Dr. Varela accordingly prepared to look 
for a site more in accordance with the wishes of most 
of his old flock, part of whom joined in the erection of 
the new church in James Street. 

The ground at that place had been purchased for 
twenty-two thousand dollars, and a solid structm-e begun, 
which is used to this day, and is the oldest Catholic 
church edifice in the city. It was completed in the 



OHUEOH OF ST. JAMES. 393 

following year, at a cost o£ tliii'ty-seven thousand dollars. 
Never had Catholicity seen in America such a period of 
trial as that during which this church was erected. A 
fanatical war on the Church had begun; the country was 
deluged with the most vile and obscene misrepresentations 
of the doctrines and lives of Catholics; meetings were 
held in Protestant churches and in public halls to inflame 
the minds of the people ; and so deluded were the poor 
masses whom the leaders kept buried in ignorance, that 
a Catholic convent at Charlestown was burned to the 
ground by a mob, the Ursuline nuns and their pupils 
being driven from their home at night by violence, 
which Massachusetts encouraged, for which she inflicted 
no punishment, and refused all redress. 

Bishop Du Bois, while reluctantly allowing his clergy 
to engage in controversy, appealed to his Catholic flock 
to avoid all these anti-Catholic gatherings, and to refrain 
carefully from creating any disturbance or giving the 
unprincipled agitators any pretext for the violence they 
sought to commit. It was amid such a state of things 
that the Catholics of New York calmly went on erecting 
the new church in honor of St. James. When it was 
decided to make it a new parish, the Right Reverend 
Bishop confided it to the Rev. Andrew Byrne, an Irish 
priest, who had already shown his ability and zeal in 
the Diocese of Charleston, where he had been made Vicar 
General, and who had, as theologian, attended a provincial 



394 CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 

council at Baltimore. To his exertions was clue the speedy 
completion of the church and the organization of the 
parish. 

St. James' Church was solemnly dedicated to the 
holy Apostle by the Rt. Rev. Dr. Du Bois, in Septem- 
ber, 1836, with all the imposing ceremonies, the position 
of the church permitting the ritual to be fully earned 
out. The array of the clergy on the occasion was im- 
posing, and the moral effect of the whole ceremon}?- on 
the community was great. Many began to respect the 
Catholic body for the firmness, self-control, and devotion 
to their faith which they exhibited under such trying 
circumstances. At the High Mass a sermon was preached 
by the Very Rev. Dr. John Power, pastor of St. Peter's. 
Church, whose eloquence held his hearers enthralled. 

St. James' Church stood in the center of what was 
soon a large Catholic population; and though the extent 
of the parish has been from time to time curtailed by 
the erection of new churches, it still has, in proportion 
to its size, one of the largest congregations in the 
city. 

It is a solid and substantial building of the Roman 
order, surmounted by a cross-capped cupola ; the portico 
supported by two columns, with pilasters at the sides. 
This leads to the main entrance, over which, on a white 
marble tablet, is engraved a cross, and beneath, "D.O.M. S. 
JACOBO." There are two side doors, and over each is 



CHURCH OF ST. JAMES. 395 

a tablet. One reads: ''MY EYES SHALL BE OPEN- 
ED, AND MY EARS ATTENTIVE TO THE PRAY- 
ERS OF HIM THAT SHALL PRAY IN THIS 
PLACE. 2 Paralip. chap, v." The other: "THIS IS 
NO OTHER BUT THE HOUSE OF GOD AND THE 
GATE OF HEAVEN. Gen. chap, v." 

There is a high basement, originally used as a 
school, and frequently the scene of great Catholic gath- 
erings, especially in the early days of the discussion of 
the School Question. The interior of the church, since 
its renovations, is finely decorated, and the altar is a 
very handsome one. 

The Rev. Mr. Byrne continued in charge of this 
congregation for six years, assisted by Rev. John Magin- 
nis, and occasionally by other priests ; among these by 
Rev. D. W. Bacon, afterwards Bishop of Portland, and 
by the Rev. Myles Maxwell and the Rev. P. Gillick. 
He then was sent to a new district and founded the 
Church of the Nativity and St. Andrew's, his merit 
causing him soon after to be raised to the episcopate as 
first Bishop of Little Rock, Arkansas. St. James can 
thus boast of having, as her first pastor and one of her 
first assistants, clergymen whose merits were so esteemed 
at Rome as to receive at the hands of the Holy 
Father a jDlace in the hierarchy. 

The Rev. John Maginnis, who had been connected 
with the church from its foundation, then became pastor, 



396 CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 

but was soon succeeded by the Eev. John N. Smith. 
During his pastorate he was assisted by Rev. Michael 
McCarron, afterwards archdeacon of the diocese, Rev. 
WilHam Nightingale, Rev. Andrew Doyle, Rev. Michael 
Curran, Jr., now for many years pastor of St. Andrew's, 
and Rev. John Curoe. 

The Rev. Mr. Smith was an energetic, brusque, but 
kind and charitable clergyman, thoroughly devoted to his 
sacred calling, and much esteemed by his flock. When, 
in 1847, the emigrant vessels brought over thousands 
prostrated or soon to fall by that terrible scourge, the ship 
fever, a call was made for priests. Among those who 
went down cheerfully to the region of the shadow of 
death was the earnest and learned Rev. Mark Murphy. 
He soon sank, a victim of charity, after soothing with 
the consolations of religion hundreds who had crossed 
the ocean to seek comfort and happiness, but found them 
only in the supernatural blessings of their holy faith. 

The Rev. Mr. Smith hastened to attend his associate 
and take his place, but he himself was stricken down, 
and died five days after, February 16th, 1848, closing 
heroically a career of twenty years in the ministry, in 
the dioceses of Baltimore and New York. 

The Rev. Patrick McKenna was then transferred from 
St. James' Church, Brooklyn. The energy displayed on 
other missions was evinced also here. He soon con- 
vinced his flock that much was needed, and they lieartily 



CHURCH OF ST. JAMES. 397 

entered into all his plans for their spiritual improvement. 
He gave the church a thorough repairing, and purchased 
ground on which he erected a suitable vestry, which had 
long been required. A suitable residence for the clergy- 
was also purchased. 

But the great want in his eyes was that of suitable 
school accommodations. To this he devoted himself heart 
and soul. The parish soon felt the full extent of their 
duty in the matter of the Catholic education of their 
children, and were ready to co-operate fully with their 
pastor in his eiforts to enable them to fulfill that duty. 
Again Protestantism, in its decay, helped the Catholic cause. 
The Mariners' Church, or Bethel, in Roosevelt Street, was 
for sale, and was purchased by the pastor of St. James', 
in May, 1854, for twenty thousand dollars. He went 
among his parishioners with his subscription list, headed 
by his own contribution of twelve hundred dollars. Seven 
thousand dollars were immediately subscribed and paid. 
The church was then transformed into a Catholic school- 
house. The impulse thus given to education in the parish 
has never lost its influence. The whole district was 
allotted off, and St. James' Free School Society established, 
under the patronage of Archbishop Hughes. This so- 
ciety, which has been eminently successful, continues to 
this day, visiting every block weekly, to collect alike 
means and pupils. 

The young Catholics, exposed to every temptation. 



398 CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YOIiK. 

are now shielded by a sound religious education, and 
fitted to encounter the difficulties that beset them. No- 
where, perhaps, have the Catholic body learned to feel 
so deep an interest in education or such a pride in their 
schools, as in the parish of St. James, and their efficiency 
now, due to the labors of the present pastor, is the 
full growth of the seed planted by the genial i^ilr. 
McKenna. His useful career ended in 1858, when he fell 
a victim to a disease of the lungs, which had ah-eady 
brought him to the verge of the grave. But he never 
spared himself, and his exhausted frame could no longer 
rally. He expired February 5th, 1858. He was buiied 
from St. James', which was tlu'onged to suffocation by 
his weeping parishioners, while the Right Reverend Bishop 
of Brooklyn sang the requiem, and clergymen from far 
and near came to render by their presence tribute to an 
exemplary fellow-laborer. Not unjustly did the eloquent 
Father Driscol of the Society of Jesus take as his text 
the Avords of the First Book of Kings (ii. 35) : " And 
I will raise me up a faithful priest, who shall do accord- 
ing to my heart and my soul, and I Avill build him 
a faithful house, and he shall walk all days before my 
anointed." 

The excellent Dominican Father Thomas Martin was 
then placed by the Most Reverend Archbishop in charge 
of the Church of St. James, where he discharged pa- 
rochial duties till liis death, in May, 1859, at the age 



CHURCH OF ST. JAMES. 399 

of 69. Again tlie congregation had to mom-n the loss 
of a great and devoted priest. Though his connection 
with St. James' had not been long, he was known and 
revered by all. His funeral, May 13, 1859, was attended 
by nearly every priest in the city, with many from 
the adjoining diocese. After the Office for the Dead ^vas 
recited by the clergy, a Solemn Mass of Requiem was 
offered by the Very Eev. Dominican Father Young, with 
deacon and subdeacon. Archbishop Hughes pronounced 
the eulogy of the laborious, disinterested priest, Avho 
always asked the hardest position ; and when he had 
brought all to peace, or harmony, or regularity — had 
helped a poor flock to build a church or get rid of a 
crushing debt — his only anxiety was to begin the same 
work elsewhere. 

The Rev. James Brennan was then appointed; but 
in 1865 the Most Reverend Ai-chbishop chose as pastor 
of the Church of St. James the Rev. Felix H. Farrelly, 
who has infused new life into all departments of his 
parish. The schools had so increased under the fostering 
care of the pastor and the systematic zeal of the people, 
that the old school-house no longer sufficed. In 1868, 
Rev. Mr. Farrelly erected, on the corner of New Bowery 
and James Street, a noble building of the most modern 
style, which throws in the shade some of the Public 
School buildings that cost the city millions. It is perfect 
in all its arrangements. The boys' school is in charge 



400 CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 

of those excellent instructors, the Christian Brothers, and 
had in 1878 six hundred and forty pupils. The girls' 
school, under the Sisters of Charity, numbered no less 
than eight hundred pupils. The course of study is so 
thorough, and with such regard not only to mental but 
also to physical training, that the results have been most 
satisfactory. Within the last few years no less than fifty 
graduates of St. James' school have passed the rigorous 
examination of the Board of Education and received cer- 
tificates as teachers in the Public Schools. 

There is also an Industrial School, in which nearly 
a hundred orphans or half-orphans are daily fed and 
educated, who would otherwise fall into the fell hands of 
those proselytizing bodies which, under the mask of public 
benevolence, seek to rob the young Catholics of their 
faith. 

In 1877, the church was thoroughly repaired tlu-ough- 
out and frescoed, so as to make it highly attractive ; 
and besides the adornment of the material temple, the 
pastor obtained the services of the Passionist Fathers, 
who gave a succession of retreats to all classes, which 
were productive of the greatest good. 

The congregation of St. James is estimated at twen- 
ty-five thousand, and a floating population of three thou- 
sand Catholic sailors. The reverend pastor is assisted by 
the Eev. "William A. Farrell and the Rev. Daniel J. 
Corkery. 



i 





CHUECH OF ST. JAMES. 401 


There are many societies connected with the church, 


all aiming to increase piety among the faithful — the 


Society of the Sacred Heart, to honor the love of oiir 


Divine Lord 


to man; the Society of the Living Rosary, 


Young Men's 


Sodality, and Young Ladies' Sodality. The 


St. James Temperance Society, dating back to 1846, 


was mainly instrumental in inducing Father Matthew to 


visit America 


Besides this, there are a Young Men's 1 


Temperance Society, a Purgatorian Society, to pray for 


the dead, and the Society for the Propagation of the 


Faith. 




I 

Ahearn, Patrick. 


^OLL OF Honor. 


Callahan, Ann, Mrs. Cronin, Michael, Mrs. Dunne, Edward. 


Aird, James, 


Callahan, Dennis. Cull, Daniel. Dwyer, Patrick. 


Anderson, C. G. 


Callan, Edward N. Cunehan, Edward. Dwyer, Peter. 


Anderson, Margaret. 


Campbell, James. Cunningham, Daniel. Eagan, Francis. 


Anthony, Joseph. 


Carey, John. Curtin, Hugh A. Eagleton, Mary Ann. 


Bailey, Catherine, Mrs. 


Carney, Edward. Cusack, Michael J. Egan, Patrick. 


Barkerding, Adolph. 


Carroll, John J. Dalton, Bridget, Mrs. Fairgrieve, Wilham. 


Bennett, Mary, Mrs. 


Cary, Mary, Mrs. Daly, Ambrose. Farrell, Edward J. 


Bergman, I. 


Cavanagh, Martin. Daly, Daniel. Farrell, Patrick. 


Bishop, Thomas. 


Cavanagh, Peter. Daly, Dennis. Feely, Michael. 


Blackford, James. 


Clark, Patrick T. Davis, John. Fenton, Thomas. 


Blake, Jefferson, Mrs. 


Coakley, William. Davis, Patrick. Ferre, William. 


Bonnie, Peter. 


Cody, Peter. Deveraux, Patrick. Field, Richard. 


Brannigan, Patrick. 


Colligan, William. De\'ine, Michael. Finn, James. 


Brady, John. 


Collins, John J. Devitt, Patrick S. Finn, John. 


Brassell, Ellen E., Mrs. 


Coman, Thomas. Dickson,Mary A.,Mrs. Finn, Maurice. 


Brennan, Jeremiah. 


Connell, John. Donovan, Cornelius. Fitzgerald, John. 


Brett, William. . 


Conroy, Thomas D. Donovan, Daniel. Fitzgerald, John J. 


Brown, Cornelius. 


Costello, James. Donovan, Ellen, Mrs. Fitzgerald, Thomas. 


Brown, James. 


Cotter, Johanna, ]\Iiss. Donovan, Florence. Fitzgerald, William. 


Brown, Nicholas T. 


Coughlin, Jeremiah. Doody,Catharine, Mrs. Fitzpatrick, John J. 


Buckley, Dennis. 


Courad, Elizabeth M. Doyle, John. Fitzpatrick, Sarah. 


Buckley, Ellen. 


Creed, Mary A., Mrs. Drought, Henry. Foley, David E. 


Burnett, Peter. 


Creig, Mary J. Dugan, Elizabeth, Mrs. Foley, Patrick. 


Burns, Edward G. 


Crittenden, Charles W. Dugan, Mary, Mrs. Foley, William. 


Byrne, John J. 


Cronley, Joseph. Dunigan, William. Foster, Charles. 


Cahill, Florence, Mrs. 


Cronin, Honora, Mrs. Dunn, Simon. Gallagher, Bernard. 




26 



402 CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF 


NEW YORK. 


Gallagher, Bernard F. 


McCusker, James. 


O'Donnell, Charles. 


Gamble, Thomas. 


McDonald, James. 


O'Donnell, John. 


Gannon, Patrick M. 


McDonnell, Daniel. 


O'Donnell, Patrick. 


Gibbons, Michael J. 


McDonnell, James. 


O'Donohue, John. 


Gilmartin, Cath., Mrs. 


McElroy, Matthew. 


O'Meara, Daniel M. 


Ginna, Michael. 


McGinley, Thomas. 


O'Neil, Daniel. 


Gleason, Michael. 


McGrath, Thomas. 


O'Neil, Henry. 


Grady, Patrick. 


McHale, Austin. 


O'Neil, Joseph F. 


Gregory, Patrick, Mrs. 


Mclnerney, Martin. 


O'Neill, Margaret, Miss. 


Griffith, Thomas G., Mrs. 


McKillop, Henry E. 


O'Reilly, Peter. 


Grimes, Fi-ancis. 


McKillop, James J. 


O'Sullivan, James. 


Gruner, Edward. 


McLaughlin, Dennis. 


O'Sullivan, John M. . 


Guerin, Margaret. 


McLaughlin, Edward. 


Patton, William, Mrs. 


Haggerty, Catharine E. 


McLaughlin, George. 


Patty, Ann, Mrs. 


Hanifan, Michael J. 


McLaughlin, John. 


Pillion, Bernard. 


Hargrove, Thomas. 


McMahon, Patrick. 


Pope, John. 


Harrington, Michael. 


McNamara, John. 


Powers, John. 


Harrington, Peter F. 


McNiff, Peter. 


Purcell, Mary. 


liaybyrne, Patrick J. 


McPhillips, James. 


Quinlan, John. 


Healy, Stephen, Mrs. 


McVay, Daniel. 


Ranahan, Henry. 


, Hefferman, James. 


Madden, Mary. 


Reidy, John, Mrs. 


Hernin, Martin. 


Magee, John. 


Reilly, Michael. 


Higgins, John. 


Maguire, Bernard. 


Reynolds, Margaret, Mrs. 


Hodge, John. 


Maher, Thomas, Mrs. 


Reunard, Andrew. 


Hogan, Edward. 


Mahoney, Daniel F. 


Riley, John. 


Howard, Sarah, Mrs. 


Mahoney, Joseph. 


Ring, Eliza, Mrs. 


Hughes, William. 


Mahoney, M. J. 


Rush, Thomas J. 


Imperatori, Carlo. 


Malone, Patrick. 


Russell, John. 


Johnson, Mary, Mrs. 


Manning, Lewis. 


Ryan, Andrew. 


Jones, Richard. 


Melville, Mary, Mrs. 


Ryan, Benjamin B., Mrs. 


Keating, Ellen, Mrs. 


Miller, Margaret, Mrs. 


Ryan, Patrick. 


Keenan, James. 


Mitchell, George. 


Savage, John A. 


Kelly, Thomas, Mrs. 


Moore, Francis G. 


Schultz, John. 


Kennedy, John. 


Moran, Roger. 


Scott, Richard. 


Kennedy, ilichael. 


Moriarty, Daniel. 


Seibert, Catliarine. 


Kennedy, Thomas, Mrs. 


Moriarty, Patrick. 


Sexton, John. 


Kent, John. 


Morris, Joseph V. 


Shea, Dennis. 


Kerrigan, James. 


Morris, Patrick. 


Sheehan, James A. 


Kilgore, Patrick. 


Morris, Thomas R. 


Short, Peter H. 


Kirby, Mary. 


Morrison, Edward. 


Smith, Charles H. 


Kirk, William P. 


Mulcahy, Edward T. 


Smith, G. R., Mrs. 


Knott, William. 


Mullane, Bridget. 


Spellman, Catharine, Mrs. 


Lapp, Henry. 


Murphy, Anthony. 


Stapleton, Ann, Mrs. 


Largan, Michael J. 


Murphy, Daniel. 


Stevens, William. 


Leary, Patrick. 


Murphy, Thomas. 


Sullivan, Cornelius. 


Lefoy, James. 


Murray, .Catharine, Mrs. 


Sullivan, Dennis. 


Lester, John. 


Musgrave, John, Mrs. 


Sullivan, Michael. 


Lombard, Richard. 


Naughton, Thomas J. 


Sullivan, Patrick. 


Long, Sarah, Mrs. 


Newell, James. 


Swan, Joseph. 


Lovejoy,. Stephen. 


Nolan, Martin. 


Sweeny, Morgan J. 


Luddy, James A. 


Nolan, Michael. 


Taggart, Hugh. 


Lynch, Johanna, Mrs. 


Noonan, Dennis, Mrs. 


Taggart, John. 


Lynch, Julia, Mrs. 


Nugent, James. 


Tangney, Patrick. 


Lynch, Michael. 


O'Brien, David. 


Thompson, Henry. 


Lynch, William. 


O'Brien, John. 


Tierney, Anthony. 


McAlister, John. 


O'Connell, Maurice. 


Tolster, Myles. 


McBride, John. 


O'Connell, Michael. 


Tripney, John. 


McCabe, Patrick. 


O'Connor, Hannah, Mrs. 


Turner, Bridget, Mrs. 


McCabe, Terence. 


O'Connor, James. 


Vail, Ellen, Mrs. 


McCaddin, Daniel. 


O'Connor, Mary, Mrs. 


Walsh, Bridget, Mrs. 


McCaffery, Owen. 


O'Connor, Patrick. 


Walsh, John. 


McCarthy, James. 


O'Connor, Thomas. 


Walsh, John. 


McCarthy, Joseph P. 


O'Connor, William J. 


Waterson, Thomas. 


McCarthy, Thomas, 


O'Day, William. 





CHURCH OF ST. JAMES. 



403 



REV. FELIX H. FARRELLY, 

PASTOK OF THE CHUKCH OF ST. JAMES. 



THE worthy successor of Bishoj) Byrne, who now 
has so identified himself with the parish church 
in James Street, was born in Ireland, December 28, 
1832, and after preliminary studies at Castle Knock and 
at the Petit Seminaire in Cavan, passed his examination 
and entered Maynooth, the great theological school of 
Ireland, which has given so many priests, not only to 
that country but to all parts of the world. 

He was ordained priest at All Hallow's College, 
near Dublin, on the 3d of July, 1854, by the Most 
Reverend Archbishop CuUen, now Ireland's first Cardinal. 
On his arrival in the United States the same year, the 
young priest was at once assigned to duty by the Most 
Reverend Archbishop Hughes. He became assistant at 
the Church of the Nativity, in Second Avenue, on the 
first of October, 1854, and held the position for two 
years, when he was appointed pastor of the Church of 
the Annunciation at Manhattanville. His discharge of his 
duties here showed so much zeal for the good of souls, 
and such real ability, that in the fall of 1860 the Church 
of St. Mary at Rondout was confided to him. His ser- 



404 CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 

vices were of the greatest benefit to this church, as he 
remained nearly five years, effecting great good and in- 
fusing order and system into all parochial affairs. 

He was transferred, on the first day of June, 1865, 
to his present position, in which he seems to live only 
as head of his parish — enthusiastic for his schools, en- 
couraging the children of his institutions by his constant 
care and prompt appreciation of all their exertions to 
succeed. They are his treasures; and the mother of the 
Gracchi did not show her sons with more pride, as the 
dearest jewels of her heart, than the Rev. Mr. Farrelly 
does his bright pupils of St. James' parish, in whose 
success in and beyond school he is so deeply interested. 

Not only in his own parish is he thus devoted to edu- 
cation. There is scarcely a Catholic college or academy 
in New York in which medals have not been given by the 
pastor of St. James' to stimulate the pupils to excellence. 

With a buoyant disposition, cheered by the devoted 
affection of his flock, who know his fidelity and char- 
ity, the Rev. Mr. Farrelly does not show the effect of 
his nearly quarter of a century of earnest labor in 
New York City ; yet it has told on his health, and he is 
no longer as robust and vigorous as of old. Infirmities 
and disease not easily eradicated from the system are 
now struggling for mastery. He is not a priest whom 
the diocese can without pain see retire on account of ill 
health, and all long for his complete restoration. 



CHURCH OF SAINT JEROME. 

ALEXANDER AVENUE AND ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY-NINTH STREET. 



THE Catholics of Mott Haven had no church of 
their own till the Most Rev. Archbishop Mc- 
Closkey, in 1870, commissioned a young- priest, who had 
displayed sterling- qualities while curate at the Church of 
the Immaculate Conception, to proceed to that point of 
the city. 

Entering his parish with the determination to labor 
earnestly, if Grod in his providence gave the increase, 
ascribing all the glory to Him, the Rev. Mr. Hughes 
placed his parish under the protection of the great Father 
of the Church, the ornament of the priesthood, the student 
of Holy Scripture, whose Latin version, the Vulgate, has 
been adopted by our Holy Mother — St. Jerome. He 
was a great saint, a holy man, of decided character, 
renouncing the world and retiring to solitude and study 
in the Holy Land ; a stem opponent of error, a vigorous 
defender of the truth, an admirable director, a model of 
the priesthood. 

The new pastor at once rented the Market House at 
Mott Haven as the temporary Chm'ch of St. Jerome, and. 



CHURCH OF ST. JEROME. 407 

after collecting the Catholics together and infusing into 
them some of his own courage and spirit, prepared to 
give his parish a church. He had not come empty- 
handed. The friends whom he had made in his last field 
of labor gave him presents of church and altar furniture, 
as well as money. 

He purchased a whole block ^f ground, and began 
to arrange for the erection there of a fine church, a 
school-house, and a pastoral residence, the whole involv- 
ing an outlay of full a quarter of a million of dollars. 
This, however, would be a matter of time. An able 
architect, Mr. L. C. O'Connor, drew the plans of the sev- 
eral buildings, but the pastor's idea was to begin with 
the greatest want, the school. 

On the 19th of June, 1870, fully seven thousand 
Catholics witnessed the laying of the corner-stone of the 
school-house of St. Jerome's parish, which was for the 
present to give space also for a temporary chapel. Socie- 
ties came with numerous delegations, with glittering ban- 
ners and devoted hearts — the Excelsior, St. Jerome, St. 
Augustine, St. Aloysius Temperance Society. The Very 
Rev. William Starrs officiated, assisted by the Rev. Dr. 
Burtsell of the Epiphan}^, the Rev. Mr. Healy of St. Ber- 
nard's, the Rev. Mr. Slevin, and the Rev. Mr. Woods. 
When the solemn ritual had ended, and the stone, the 
head of the comer, the type of Christ, had been blessed, 
the Rev. Dr. Morrogh preached, taking as his text the 



408 CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 

words of the Psalmist : " Unless the Lord build the 
house, they labor in vain who build it." 

The building-, as planned by the architect, L. C. 
O'Connor, and erected by Mr. P. Mullen, the builder, is a 
fine structure of brick, in the Lombardo-Gothic style, of 
pressed brick, with Ohio and Belleville stone dressings; 
seventy feet wide by one hundred and fifteen feet in depth, 
and three stories high. For a time the first story was used 
as a temporary chapel, and was neatly fitted up, giving 
accommodations for a congregation of two thousand souls, 
the second and third stories being used for school pur- 
poses. This building cost fifty-five thousand dollars, and 
was ready in the following year. It was solemnly dedi- 
cated on the 25th of June, 1871. 

The Rev. Mr. Hughes has as assistant the Rev. J. 
Dougherty. 

St. Jerome's Church has a thriving Altar Society, 
a Rosary Society, and several approved sodalities, as well 
as a Conference of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul. 



CHUECH OF ST. JEROME. 409 



REV. JOHN J. HUaHES, 

PASTOE OF THE CHUECH OF ST. JEEOME. 



THE Rev. Jolm J. Hughes was bom in the County 
Down, Ireland, on the Feast of All Saints, No- 
vember 1st, 1834. His early education, however, was 
received at the High School at Whitehaven, in Cumber- 
land CoTinty, England. 

Having come to this country in 1856, he entered 
St. John's College, at Fordham, in the ensuing year, and 
was graduated in 1862. He subsequently entered the 
Seminary of St. Sulpice, Montreal, where he pui-sued his 
theological course under the accomplished professors of 
that divinity school. 

He was ordained on the 26th of July, 1865, in the 
Cathedi'al Church of St. Patrick, New York, by the 
Most Rev. Archbishop McCloskey, and was placed as 
assistant at St. Peter's Church in Barclay Street. After 
a three months' experience in that ancient parish, he was 
assigned to duty as curate at St. Mary's Church, in the 
town. of Rondout, and diligently discharged the duties of 
that position till the month of November, 1866, when, an 
assistant being required at the Church of the Immaculate 
Conception in Fourteenth Street, the young priest, who 



410 



CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 



had impressed all by his zeal, capacity, and talent, was 
stationed there. 

In this church he made himself singularly beloved ; 
and Avhen he was appointed to form a new parish at 
Mott Haven, the grief felt at j)arting with him was gen- 
eral throughout the congregation, and evoked a warm 
sympathy in the task he had undertaken. Rarely has a 
priest received so many and such substantial tokens of 
appreciation on the part of his flock. In the parish which 
he has created he has left an enduring monument of his 
abihty, and the new church which he hopes to raise 
will more clearly prove how readily an earnest priest, 
laboring for the good of his congregation, meets a re- 
sponse in their hearts. 



Roll of Honor. 



Adams, Thomas. 
Attinelli, Francis. 
Bagnall, Charles. 
Bailey, A. L., Mrs. 
Beisely, John. 
Berte, F. C. 
Blake, Ambrose. 
Brady, Margaret, Mrs. 
Brennan, John H. 
Broderick, Eliza, Mrs. 
Butler, Edward. 
Butler, Pierce J. 



CHURCH OF ST. JEROME. 

Byrne, Joseph. 
Byrne, Thomas. 
Byrne, William P. 
Callahan, Christopher. 
Campbell, Hugh. 
Carney, Patrick. 
Cashman, Patrick. 
Cassion, James. 
Caulfield, Christopher. 
Cavanagh, Patrick. 
Clarke, John. 
Connelly, John. 



Connolly, Mark. 
Cooney, Nicholas. 
Coyle, Bernard. 
Crowe, Michael. 
Cunningham, Henrietta. 
Curtis, Margaret. 
Daly, David. 
Daly, H. C. 
Daly, Peter. 
Daly, Patrick. 
Debold, Jacob. 
Denny, A. 



CHURCH OF ST. JEROME. 



411 



Doherty, William. 
Donlon, Patrick. 
Donnegan, John. 
Donnelly, Sarah, Mrs. 
Dougherty, John. 
Drummond, Charles. 
England, Martin. 
Ettenborough, John J. 
Fanning, Patrick G. 
Feehan, James. 
Findlay, William. 
Fitzgerald, James. 
Franke, Joseph. 
Gafifney, Richard. 
Gibney, William. 
Gillen, Margaret, Mrs. 
Gordon, Patrick E. 
Guilfoyle, Thomas. 
Guinan, Bernard. 
Haiduvan, Joseph. 
Hanley, Sarah C. 
Hartley, Edward F. 
Hogan, Michael. 
Hogan, Philip. 
Hoyt, Emily A. - 
Johnson, Joseph. 
Jordan, P. 
Kelley, Maria, Mrs. 
Kennelly, James. 
Kenney, P. 
Laughlin, James. 
Lawler, Patrick. 
Leslie, James. 
Lipps, Ellen, Mrs. 
Logan, Thomas. 



Loughlin, Joseph. 
Loughlin, Thomas. 
Lynch, Bartholomew. 
Lynch, John. 
McArdle, George. 
McCarthy, John. 
McGauran, Thomas. 
McGearity, Patrick. 
McGee, James E. 
McGinness, John. 
McGrath, Lawrence. 
McGrath, Margaret. 
McGuire, John. 
McKenna, Felix. 
McKenna, Francis. 
McKenna, Michael. 
McKenna, Rosa. 
McNally, John. 
McQuillan, Alexander. 
Mallen, Frank. 
Mallen, Owen. 
Meany, Margaret. 
Meany, Michael C. 
Mooney, Rose. 
Mooney, Thomas. 
Mooney, William. 
Montgomery, James. 
Moran, John. 
Morrison, James. 
Morton, Henry. 
Murphy, Catharine. 
Murphy, Edward. 
Murphy, John. 
Murphy, Kate. 
Murphy, Michael. 
Nevvett, Thomas. 



Norris, Thomas G. 
O'Byrne, William J. 
O'Connor, Charles. 
O'Gorman, John. 
O'Hare, Patrick. 
O'Kane, James. 
O'Neil, Michael. 
Quigley, D. J. 
Redmond, Ennis. 
Regan, Owen. 
Reilly, James. 
Reilly, John. 
Reilly, R. 

Richardson, Joseph. 
Riley, James. 
Ryan, James E. 
Ryan, William. 
Sadlier, Dennis. 
Siller, Rose. 
Slattery, Patrick. 
Smith, Edward. 
Stumpf, B. Mrs. 
Sullivan, Matthew. 
Sullivan, Mortimer. 
Tierney, John. 
Toner, William. 
Trainor, Ellen. 
Tuomey, Mary. 
Turley, John. 
Walsh, Catharine. 
Walsh, Patrick. 
Weir, Hugh. 
Williams, James J. 
Wilson, Catharine. 
Wolfrath, Alfred. 




CHURCH OF SAINT JOHN THE BAPTIST. 

WEST THIRTIETH STREET. 



CHURCH OF SAINT JOHN THE BAPTIST 

WEST THIRTIETH STREET. 



THE necessity of hearing tlie Word of God in 
their own tongue, and of having their children 
taught the Christian doctrine in the tones famiHar to them 
from the cradle, led the Glerman Catholics to exert them- 
selves to have separate churches where they could enjoy 
these advantages. 

The mass and the services of the Church are the 
same for all, and to the Catholic it matters not of what 
race or land the priest may be who ministers at the altar. 
The august sacrifice is offered by men duly ordained 
from every nation under heaven. But the teachings of 
religious truth come home to the heart more surely when 
uttered in the language in which they were heard in 
childhood, and which carry the aged man back to the 
day when he learned his first prayer at his mother's 
knee. 

The Church of St. Nicholas was the first step, but it 
was far on the eastern side of the city. The German 
Catholics on the western side resolved to make an effort 
to have a church of their own. 



414 CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 

There was a rocky, swampy tract around Thirty- 
first Street, near Seventh Avenue, where modern improve- 
ments were not dreamed of. The rude shanties of those 
who held by no lease formed the sole population. Pro- 
perty here seemed within the means of a small and poor 
congregation. 

Here a small frame chm-ch in honor of St. John 
the Baptist was erected and blessed in 1840. The con- 
gregation placed themselves under the powerful patronage 
of the Precursor of our Lord, sanctified in the womb 
of His holy mother, St. Elizabeth — a prophet, and more 
than a prophet, for he not only foretold our Lord, but 
pointed him out to the Jews, saying, '* Behold the Lamb 
of God." Of him the Divine Truth itself said: ''Amen, 
amen, I say to you, of them that are born of woman 
there is not a holier one than John the Baptist." 

The Church of St. Jolm the Baptist was thus mod- 
estly begun — a small, unpretending frame structure. The 
opening was auspicious. The really pious rejoiced at the 
opportunity now afforded them of attending mass and 
frequenting the sacraments in their own part of the city, 
and of receiving instruction and admonition in the lan- 
guage of their fatherland. 

But those were days of trustees; and the little chm-ch 
was in the hands of men who attempted to rule with a 
high hand. The church for some time had no resident 
pastor, but when Rev. Zacharias Kunze was appointed, 



CHURCH OF ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST. 415 

he found that the trustees claimed to rule the congrega- 
tion, and his power for good was limited. He Avithdi-ew 
in 1844, and established the Church of St. Francis Seraph. 
Rev. J. A. Jacop became pastor in 1845, but there was a 
general lack of spirit and much dissension. 

To add to the miseries, on Sunday morning, January 
10th, 1847, when when the chm'cli was ready for early 
mass, those of the congregation living near saAv flames 
bursting out ominously jBrom a rude stable near their 
church. The alarm was given, and they hastened to save 
their temple ; but the winter wind fanned the flames, 
and though some articles were saved, and much of the 
altar fm*nitm'e, the building with the organ was consmned, 
and the congregation was without a church. 

They did not lose com*age, but with the money re- 
ceived from the insm-ance began to erect a more solid 
and substantial edifice of brick. 

On Sunday afternoon, March 14th, 1847, the Right 
Reverend Bishop Hughes, accompanied by liis secretary. 
Rev. J. R. Bayley, and two Jesuit Fathers from St. John's 
College, proceeded to the spot to lay the corner-stone ac- 
cording to the Roman Pontifical. 

The Right Reverend Bishop made a most earnest and 
powerful addi-ess befitting the cu-cumstance. He reminded 
the congregation of the glorious spiritual temple, of which 
the material one was but a faint shadow, and that the 
strength and usefulness of each particular church, as of 



416 CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 

a single stone, were to be found only in its close and 
faitliful continuance in tlie place of tlie vast edifice in 
which it is set. 

An address was also delivered in German by the 
Rev. Mr. Eaffeiner, and after the chant of a hymn in 
German the congregation retired. 

The new Church of St. John the Baptist was by 
no means grand, either exteriorly or interiorly, but it 
was a great improvement. For a time the Catholics of 
St. John's were attended from the Church of the Nativity, 
but in 1848, the Rev. Joseph Lutz, an exemplary and 
energetic priest, was appointed. After fom- years' labor the 
Rev. Mr. Lutz withdrew, and the chm-ch was again bereft 
of a pastor. At last, in 1853, the Rev. Augustine Dantner 
was appointed to the position; and he struggled on amid 
endless difficulties till the year 1870, when he was forced 
to withdraw. The church remained closed for several 
months, and there seemed every prospect that it would 
fall from decay — for it was in a wretched condition from 
long want of repair — unless in the mean time it was sold 
for debt, and so passed entirely out of the hands of the 
Catholics. 

On the return of the Most Reverend Archbishop 
from the Vatican Council, he resolved to make one more 
effort to infuse new life into the congregation, and dehver 
it from the evils under which it had so long suffered, 
by placing it in the hands of a zealous religious order. 



CHURCH OF ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST. 41 7 

The spectacle of a community bound together by humil- 
ity, piety, obedience, and self-denial, ought to be a per- 
petual lesson. 

The Capucliins, a branch of the great Franciscan 
Order, had, at a very early date, labored on the Ameri- 
can coast. They built the first Catholic chapels among 
the French fishing villages on the coast of Maine and 
Nova Scotia in the middle of the seventeenth century, 
and for many years served the various parishes in Louis- 
iana. It is the order which gave Ireland its great moral 
reformer, Father Matthew, and the province of Florida, 
and more recently the neighboring provinces of Ncav 
Brunswick and Nova Scotia, eminent and laborious 
bishops. 

The early missions had died away amid the various 
changes in the condition of the country, but in 1857 
the Rev. Bonaventura Frey and the Rev. Francis Haas 
revived the order in the United States, and founded a 
convent at Mount Calvary, Fond du Lac County, Wis- 
consin. 

They were already known to his Grrace Archbishop 
McCloskey, who, in 1866, confided a district to them, 
where they had erected and conducted most satisfactorily 
the Church of Our Lady of Sorrows, in Pitt Street. At 
his request, the Rev. Father Bonaventura Frey under- 
took himself the charge of the parish of St. John the 

Baptist. 

27 



418 CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 

The poor old church was again opened, and the 
congregation met once more to hear mass and instruc- 
tions. The new pastor at once appealed to their better 
feelings, and, expressing astonishment that German Catho- 
lics in a great city like New York should be contented 
with a church as poor as he had found in the wildest 
regions of the West, soon brought the better part of the 
flock to rally around him in his work of building a 
church that would be honorable to their holy patron, St. 
John the Baptist, and creditable to themselves. 

The plan of a new and fitting church was prepared 
by the architect, N. Le Brun; and, undismayed by the 
load of debt and the past dissensions, the brave Capu- 
chin Father laid the corner-stone of his new chiu-ch on 
the first Sunday after Pentecost, June 4th, 1871. 

To enable them to complete the chui'ch, collections 
were made, not only among the congregation, but else- 
where — one Father, Pacificus, devoting himself almost 
entu-ely to the good work of procuring the necessary 
means. 

The church was finally completed, except the spire, 
and stands to-day a source of wonder to those who 
recollect the poor old church which for so many years 
occupied the site. It is built in pm-e Grothic style. The 
fagade is of fine dressed stone, with beautiful arched 
doorways, surmounted by windows of singular beauty, 
the projection of the tower base breaking the line of 



CHURCH OF ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST. 419 

the front and relieving it from sameness. The high altar 
and those ^it the sides are of white, polished marble, 
pure in taste, design, and execution, standing out in relief 
from a background of darkly veined marble. This, Avith 
the statues of the Blessed Virgin and St. Joseph on the 
side altars, and the elegantly carved pulpit, the work of 
a Capuchin lay brother, attract the attention of all who 
enter the sacred edifice. The church is a hundred and 
sixty-five feet long and sixty-seven feet wide, while the 
nave, which rises above the aisles, attains a height of 
seventy feet. The cost of the building was $175,000. 

The erection of so large a church, capable of seat- 
ing twelve hundred in the pews, astonished many, and to 
some it seemed to be thrice as large as the congregation 
required ; but the result showed that Father Bonaventura 
builded wisely. The solemnity and dignity with which 
divine worship is offered, and all the offices of the Church 
performed, attract so many that the chm-ch is filled at 
the successive masses on Sundays and holidays. 

The new church was solemnly dedicated on the 23d 
of June, 1872. Religious societies from the Church of Our 
Lady of Soitows in Pitt Street, St. Michael's in Thirty- 
second Street, and from the Church of the Assumption, 
came to rejoice with the parishioners bf St. John the 
Baptist, with still others from the Holy Innocents, St. 
Alphonsus, and St. Francis of Assisi. These came with 
their bands — the societies attached to the church, those 



420 CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 

of Francis Xaverius, Francis Joseph, and St. John the 
Baptist closing the line, which was led by ,a band of 
wliite-robed virgins. When these societies had passed 
in order into the church, the ceremony of the day be- 
gan. For the third time on that spot a Catholic church 
was to be blessed. His Grace the Most Reverend Arch- 
bishop performed the striking ceremony, and, returning to 
the sanctuary, took his seat on the throne prepared at 
the left side of the altar. 

A Solemn High Mass was then offered, at which 
were present the Most Reverend Archbishop, with Bishop 
Persico of Savannah and Bishop McQuade of Rochester. 
After the gospel, the Rev. Father Francis Haas, Superior 
of the Capuchins in Wisconsin, preached a sermon in 
German, taking as his text, " This is the house of God." 
At the close of the Holy Sacrifice, his Grace Archbishop 
McCloskey felicitated the congregation and the Capuchin 
Fathers on the success of their undertaking. " Seldom," 
said he, "have I been so positively reminded of the 
sublime scene which was witnessed in Jerusalem at the 
dedication of the second Temple to the glory of the God 
of Israel by the Jews upon their return from Babylonian 
captivity. The procession of priests and levites, the 
sound of cymbals and music, caused old men and women 
to weep with joy, and young ones leaped about under 
the same influence. Yet what was the solemnity of that 
occasion compared with the present 1 No divine holo- 



CHURCH OF ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST. 421 

caust was there offered, no Divine presence was there to 
be found, but it is not so in the Christian temple." 

Encouraging- them to labor earnestly to extinguish 
all debt on their tine chm-ch, since it could not be called 
really the house of God while any man could put for- 
ward a claim to it, he reminded them that the solemn 
consecration of a church could be performed only when 
the edifice was completely free from debt. Receiving his 
benediction, the vast and striking assemblage retired. 

In the rear of the church on Thirty-first Street, Father 
Bonaventura erected on two lots a fine brick building 
trimmed with stone. This was intended as a residence 
for a religious community. It was the Capucliin Con- 
vent, and on its completion it was dedicated by the 
Most Reverend Archbishop to St. Fidehs of Sigmaringen, 
a holy Capuchin Father, who, after preaching with the 
most bm*ning eloquence to the Calvinists of Switzerland, 
was put to death by them m the year 1622. Of the tens 
of thousands of blessed martyrs who laid down their lives 
for the faith at the period of the Reformation, at the 
hands of the adherents of some of the many forms of 
error then wildly proclaimed, St. Fidelis is one of the few 
yet canonized by the Church. He was in name and deed 
faithful unto the end, and is a blessed patron for our 
city. At the time of the blessing of the Convent, his Grace 
established the cloister as laid down in the canons. 

The necessity of a school building was great, and 



422 CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 

Father Bonaventura did not deem liis good work com- 
plete till he had erected one, although the basement of 
the new church answered for a time. He found no 
building in the neighborhood that could be readily 
adapted for school purposes, but was so aided that he 
was able to buy two lots adjoining the convent. On 
these he erected a fine school-house, corresponding ex- 
teriorly to the convent. Some modifications in the con- 
vent building were needed, but the architect, Mr. W. 
Schickel, succeeded in making an edifice answering all the 
purposes, and imposing exteriorly. 

The building contains seven large school-rooms, each 
of which will accommodate a hundred pupils. The apart- 
ments are well lighted and tnoroughly ventilated; nor 
are an^^ of the requirements now required in furnishing 
a school neglected. 

The direction of the boys' school remained for a 
time in the hands of secular teachers, but Father Bona- 
ventura at last induced the Community of Teachers, 
known as the Brothers of Mary, having a mother house 
at Dayton, Ohio, to include this also in the number of 
schools under their charge. Three Brothers of this Com- 
munity are now engaged in the schools of the parish, 
having one hundred and seventy-five bo5^s under them. 
The girls' school is directed by the Sisters of St. Do- 
minic, who have a neat house adjoining the church. Their 
school contains one Imndi-ed and eighty girls. 



CHURCH OF ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST. 423 



REV. BONA VENTURA FREY, O. MIN. CAP., 

PASTOR OF THE CHURCH OF ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST. 



THE Rev. Father Bonaventura Frey was born June 
12, 1831, in the Canton of Thurgovia, Switzer- 
land. 

His education, begun at Einsiedlen, was completed at 
the Universities of Bonn and Tubingen. God having 
called him to the ecclesiastical state, he proceeded to 
St. Grail's Seminary, in Switzerland, which bears the name 
of one of Ireland's saints. Here, after that preparation 
of the mind and heart which the Church ordains for 
aspirants to the awful ministry, he was ordained, in May, 
1854, by Bishop Mirrer. 

After receiving priestly orders he was appointed to 
a parish in his native canton, and discharged his duties 
commendably until the year 1856, when he resolved to 
devote himself to the American Mission. Having arrived 
in this country, he was received by Bishop Henni, and 
appointed to St. Mary's Church in Milwaukee. 

His mind had always turned to the religious state, 
and he felt called to devote his life to serve God in 
the reform of the Franciscan Order, ]<;nown as the Friars 
Minor Capuchins. There was no community of this 



424 CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 

famous order in the country, but a pious Swiss Father 
was duly authorized to open a novitiate in Wisconsin. F. 
Bonaventura Frey and F. Francis Haas were the first 
to receive the habit and enter the novitiate. After pro- 
nouncing his vows he erected the convent of Mount 
Calvary, in Fond du Lac County, Wisconsin, in 1857, 
The community prospered, and Father Bonaventura, 
after laboring here several years, came to New York in 
1866, and had already erected a convent and church 
of Our Mother of Sorrows, in Pitt Street, before the 
Most Reverend Archbishop requested him to extend his 
zeal to St. John's. This brief sketch will show that he 
is a priest of more than ordinary merit, and one likely 
to render signal service to the Church. 



CHURCH OF SAINT JOHN THE EVANGELIST. 

FIFTIETH STREET. 



THE site of the magnificent new Cathedral Church 
of St. Patrick has been, almost from the com- 
mencement of the century, hallowed by the offering of 
the Lamb without spot in the Liturgy of the New Law, 

In the year 1810, the Jesuit Fathers, who had 
opened an academy opposite St. Patrick's Cathedral, re- 
moved it to a fine old mansion on the comer of Fifth 
Avenue and Fiftieth Street — a building still standing, 
and used as the parochial residence of the church whose 
history we now give. 

The New York Literary Institution had its chapel 
of St. Ignatius, in which Father Peter Malou, once the 
brilliant general of the Belgians in their uprising against 
Austria to secure the freedom of their Church, and 
other Fathers of the Society of Jesus, offered up the 
Holy Sacrifice. The chapel was thus the scene of their 
ministry till the summer of 1813, when the position of 
the Society compelled the Jesuit Fathers to abandon 
their project of establishing a college in New York. 

It was next temporarily occupied by Fathers of the 
Cistercian Order — Dom Augustine, Fathers Urban and 



CHURCH OF ST. JOHN THE EVANGELIST. 427 

Vincent seemed to have made the Chapel of St. Igna- 
tius theirs for some time. But early in 1815 these 
Trappist monks withdrew from New York, and the 
chapel, as well as all that portion of the island, was for 
years without the services of a priest. But the name 
of the old chapel and its invocation of the fomider of 
the Society of Jesus remained. 

A quarter of a century passed, and tlie Catholics 
employed in the Deaf and Dumb Asylum, on Fifth 
Avenue, between Forty-ninth and Fiftieth Streets, and 
other Catholics near that institution appealed to the 
Right Reverend Bishop for some means of enabling them 
to hear mass. The chapel of St. Ignatius was again 
opened, in the venerable building Avhere Jesuit and Trap- 
pist had officiated so many years before. In 1840, the 
Rev. John Maginnis was appointed to organize the 
Catholics, and, if possible, erect a church for their ac- 
commodation. A Catholic congregation was organized, 
in the form then usual, with a board of trustees, f nd a 
modest little frame edifice erected. It was dedicated on 
the 9th of May, 1841, at half-past ten in the morning, 
by the Rt. Rev. John Hughes, D.D., then administrator 
of the diocese. After the ceremonies a Solemn High 
Mass was offered, and the Bishop delivered a sermon 
adapted to the occasion. 

The congregation was feeble in numbers, and by no 
means wealthy, so that tickets of admission were issued 



428 CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 

to aid in reducing- the debt incurred in the erection of 
the church. 

The Rev. Mr. Maginnis remained as pastor of St. 
John's till September, 1842, when he was succeeded 
by the Rev. William Nightingale, an English clergyman, 
who labored for several years in the diocese. In April, 
1844, the Rev. Felix Larkin — whose brother, the cele- 
brated Jesuit Father, John Larkin, has left such a dis- 
tinguished reputation among us — undertook the direction 
of the church. 

The old trustee system was in this parish bearing 
its bitter fruits. The trustees were the parties in power; 
but, even where filled with the best dispositions, Avere 
generally men w^hose time was taken up with their own 
business affairs, and who, consequently, could attend to 
the interests of the church only at intervals. The re- 
sult was an utter want of economy. A church would 
be begun beyond the means of the congregation, and 
often, where contractors brought influence to bear on the 
members of the board, built at a fearfully exagger- 
ated cost for every thing furnished. The trustees then 
found themselves face to face with a debt beyond their 
power to meet or manage. They could make no appeal 
to the congregation in the sacred name of religion. They 
possessed no such influence as would touch the hearts 
of the generous. 

In their utter inefficiency, these bodies then tm-ned 



CHURCH OF ST. JOHN THE EVANGELIST. 429 

to the priest placed by tlie bishop in the church, but 
it was no part really of his sacred calling to make 
himself a collector and money raiser for a board which 
expended the means of the church frequently against his 
judgment and his sound advice. St. John the Evange- 
list is an example of the result of this false position. 
The trustees were unable to derive enough from pew 
rents or the collections in the church to meet the ex- 
penses, or pay even the interest on the mortgage which 
covered the property. They had neither time nor abil- 
ity to go elsewhere and invoke aid. Even in the 
church itself, the faithful, notwithstanding the appeals of 
the successive clergymen, were loth to give money, 
when all that was given seemed hopelessly sunk. 

The holder of the mortgage, after waiting for years 
and seeing no hope of obtaining any payment whatever, 
finally foreclosed, and as no effort was made even then 
to obtain a loan elsewhere, or raise any part of the in- 
debtedness, the Church of St. John the Evangelist was 
sold at auction. 

It was the first time that such an affliction had be- 
fallen a Catholic church in the city, and it came like 
a death-knell on the whole body. It broke the heart of 
the pastor, who, not responsible for the position of 
affairs, and coming to the position when the disaster 
was irretrievable, had appealed in vain to his flock to 
save the church. He never recovered from the blow, 



430 CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 

which may be said to have terminated a long and use- 
ful ministry. 

The disgraceful sale was a lesson. It showed that 
the trustee system was inherently wrong; that the bishop 
and his clergy alone could inspire the confidence which 
would induce the faithful to give of their means to erect 
and maintain the shrines of religion. 

The congregation was bereft of its church, which, 
standing there with closed doors, was a bitter reproach. 
To rescue the fair fame of the Catholic body, the Right 
Reverend Bishop sent to tlie parisli a young and ener- 
getic priest, who was not to be appalled by difficulties, 
but rather enjoyed grappling with them. This was the 
Rev. Michael Curran, Jr. 

Coming to his work, he was free from all trustee 
interference. All devolved on himself personally, and he 
was untrammeled. The Chapel of St. Ignatius was again 
opened. The old college building had become the 
property of St. Patrick's Cathedi'al, St. Peter's Chm-ch 
having sold its interest. In the large hall of this build- 
ing an altar was set up, and in this temporary chapel 
the congregation of St. John the Evangelist met, to hear 
mass and approach the sacraments, for about a year. 
Meanwhile their young priest was collecting far and 
near, appealing to the charity and religious feeling of 
every benevolent Catholic. It was not a time when such 
a collection was an easy matter; it was the day when 



CHURCH OF ST. JOHN THE EVANGELIST. 43 1 

the terrible famine in Ireland was desolating tlie country, 
and all who loved that ill-fated land felt as if every 
cent that they could give must be devoted to the relief 
of that starving nation, where satanic proselytizers were 
endeavoring to lure the famishing from their faith by 
the offer of bread. 

Yet the Rev. Mr. Cm-ran succeeded; although, as often 
happens, the purchasers of the church, seeing the desire 
to regain it, more than once raised the price, the priest 
went steadily on. He paid the amount demanded, and 
by the direction of the bishop took the deed of the 
property in his' own name till other arrangements were 
made. Recently, in one of those periodical revivals of 
the old falsehood that the new cathedi'al property was 
given to the Catholics by the city, allusion was made to 
the deed subsequently made by the Rev. Mr. Cm-ran, 
reminding this generation of his noble work thirty years 
ago, in recovering, by his personal exertions, a Catholic 
church which had been swept away from us. 

Two years' pastorship enabled him to place the 
Chui'ch of St. John the Evangelist on a solid footing, 
and open to it a time of prosperity. In May, 1850, he 
was transferred to another field, and the present pastor. 
Rev. James McMahon, was appointed. Some money had 
been borrowed on bond and mortgage; but the new 
pastor, with means of his own, at once discharged this 
incumbrance and soon paid off all other debts, leaving 



432 CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 

his little churcli entirely free. The parish was at tliis 
time very extensive, embracing from Thirtieth to Eighty- 
sixth Street on the East River, and from Fortieth to 
Eighty-sixth Street west of Broadway, and including also 
Blackwell's Island. 

The increase of the Catholic body in this large dis- 
trict was soon felt. In the autumn of 1853, this and 
the projected erection of a new cathedral on the block 
called for action. It was resolved to purchase the pres- 
ent site and remove the church to it, building a high 
basement for school purposes. Five hundred dollars were 
subscribed at the first meeting, to begin the necessary 
work. The transfer was soon completed, and the church, 
thus renovated and restored, served the purposes of the 
parishioners for a time ; but a few years later an addition, 
forty feet by ninety, was erected, making the edifice 
ninety feet in width by one hundred and forty in depth, 
and costing in all fifteen thousand dollars. The old 
pastoral residence, so venerable for its associations, was 
at the same time removed from the cathedral grounds 
to its present site. 

Meanwhile a fine organ had been built in the chm-ch, 
embracing many improvements which were the invention 
of the reverend pastor. The merit of the instrument 
was so great that it was resolved to transfer it to the 
new cathedi-al. Its value Avas thirty thousand dollars. 

As the city grew rapidly around the spot, other 



CHUECH OF ST. JOHN THE EVANGELIST. 433 

churches were founded, drawing off part of the congre- 
gation, and reducing greatly the limits of the parish of 
St. John the Evangelist. 

On the 10th of January, 1871, a disaster befell the 
church. Like the church dedicated to the Holy Precursor 
of our Lord, St. John the Baptist, the church dedicated 
to the beloved apostle, St. Jolm the Evangelist, fell a vic- 
tim to the flames. The fire originated in the sanctuary, 
but could not be explained. The timbers being old and 
dry, the devouring element spread rapidly, and the 
church was burned to the ground. The organ, the 
pride of the pastor, and his labor for years, perished; 
nor was it possible to save even the vestments and 
paintings in the church, while ■ the insurance was incon- 
siderable compared to the loss sustained. Undaunted by 
this disaster, the Rev. Mr. McMahon set to work to re- 
build St. John the Evangelist, on Fiftieth Street and 
Madison Avenue. At a meeting of the parishioners, ten 
thousand dollars were subscribed. In a few months, a 
new and substantial brick church was erected, with fire- 
proof walls and slate roof, capable of seating twelve 
hundred comfortably. It was supplied with a new or- 
gan of greater strength and more perfect tone than the 
lost one. In November, the Jesuit Father Damen and 
his associates gave a mission in this church, at which 
more than ten thousand approached the sacraments. As 

the present church will not be needed when the new 
28 



434 CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 

cathedral opens, it was erected with a view to its be- 
ing transformed hereafter into a parochial school for boys. 
There is now here a girls' school, under the direction of 
the Sisters of Charity, which numbers no fewer than 
seven hundred pupils. To afford opportunity to those 
who desire a higher grade of teaching, the Sisters of 
Mercy from Houston Street, a few years since opened, 
at 128 East Fifty-fourth Street, St. John's Academy of 
Our Lady of Mercy, which has been singularly success- 
ful in its results, and is attended by about one hun- 
dred young ladies. 

Among the societies attached to the church are the 
Society of the Holy Family, a Temperance Society, a 
Conference of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, and 
a Circle of the Catholic Union, with Altar and Rosary 
societies, and sodalities for older and younger members. 

The assistants of the Rev. Mr. McMahon are the 
Rev. Michael Callalian, a native of Cavan, Ireland, edu- 
cated at St. Francis Xavier's College and St. Joseph's 
Seminary ; the Rev. Thomas A. McCabe, a native of 
New York, who went from the same college to the 
Seminary of Our Ladies of the Angels; and the Rev. 
C. T. Donovan, a native of Ireland, who completed his 
divinity course at the Provincial Seminary, Troy. 

The church in New York dedicated to the beloved 
Apostle and Evangelist, St. John, is, as we have seen, 
in time to become a school. The name of the chapel of 



OHUEOH OF ST. JOHN THE EVANGELIST. 435 

St. Ignatius and of the Church of St. John will doubt- 
less be preserved among- the chapels in the new cathe- 
dral to continue the protection of those great saints in- 
voked on the spot, upon all who there offer up their 
prayers to Grod. 

St. John — ^Apostle, Evangelist, Prophet of the New 
Law, nearest to the heart of our Blessed Lord, on 
which he reclined at the Last Supper — is represented 
among the Evangelists by the eagle, to note the sub- 
limity of his doctrine. He might be typified by the dove 
or by a flaming heart, to show how his heart burned 
with love for God and for all men. Love of God above 
all things, and of our neighbor for God's sake, breathes 
from every line of his epistles. 

St. Ignatius, founder of the Society of Jesus, who 
was so providentially raised up by God to check the 
course of the Reformation — whose order sent Maryland 
her first missionaries, and so long kept alive the faith 
in colonial times — gave New York her first missionary, 
her first martyr, her first resident priests. And her first 
college should not be forgotten in the new cathedral, where 
his chapel once stood. 



436 



CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 



R 



OLL OF 



H 



ONOR, 



CHURCH OF ST. JOHN THE EVANGELIST. 



Bowe, Patrick. 
Boyce, James. 
Boyle, John J. 
Branique, Margaret. 
Brown, John^ 
Buckley, Dennis, Mrs. 
Burlinson, William. 
Cahill, Thomas. 
Canavan, John. 
Carey, Thomas. 
Cary, John G. 
Casey, J. 
Cavanagh, Ellen. 
Chrystal, Peter. 
Collins, John. 
Collins, P. 
Conlon, John. 
Cooney, John W. 
Curran, Peter. 
Daly, Elizabeth, Mrs. 
Daly, Martin. 
Daylon, Patrick. 
Denning, Philip. 
Devine, Michael. 
Donohue, Catharine, Mrs. 
Donohue, Philip. 
Doran, Charles J. 
Dowd, James. 
Duffy, Solomon. 
Dugan, Francis. 
Duggan, J. A. 
Dunn, James H. 
Dunn, John. 
Earle, Eugene M., Mrs. 
Elliott, Estelle. 
Falihee, Michael. 
Fallon, Wilham. 
Farley, John. 
Farrell, Edward. 
Filann, Stephen, 
Fitzgerald, William. 
Fitzgerald, Catharine, Mrs. 
Fitzpatrick, Philip. 
Fitzsimtaons, Owen. 
Flaherty, Michael. 
Fleherty, Patrick. 
Galligan, Bernard. 
Galvin, James T. 



Geoghegan, James. 
Gibney, Patrick. 
Gilmartin, Thomas. 
Green, Martin. 
Griffin, James, Mrs. 
Hafe, Margaret, Mrs. 
Hanegan, Thomas. 
Hanlon, Marcus, Mrs. 
Harris, Andrew. 
Healy, Charles. 
Heimessey, Arthur J. 
Hennessey, Michael. 
Hoctor, John. 
Hogan, Alichael. 
Hughes, Patrick J. 
Irwin, Michael J. 
Jordan, Margaret. 
Kain, John. 
Kane, Michael. 
Kearney, James. 
Kelly, Eugene. 
Kelley, P. 
Kells, Jeremiah. 
Kerrigan, Thomas. 
Kipp, Margaret A. 
Leahy, Thomas. 
Lenihan, John. 
Loonie, Dennis. 
L)mch, Cornelius. 
McCarthy, Michael. 
McEntee, James. 
McGrane, Thomas. 
McGuire, John T. 
McKeon, Annie. 
McKinley, John W. 
McLaughlin, Margaret. 
McLoughlin, Thomas. 
McManus, Thomas. 
McNally, Matthew. 
McSorley, John. 
Macguire, Constantine J. 
Madden, Thomas. 
Mahon, Patrick. 
Mahony, Dennis J. 
Malone, William. 
Marren, Joseph. 
Martin, James. 
Mason, Frank. 



Matthews, Peter. 
May, Dominick. 
Meehan, Margaret. 
Meehan, Patrick C. 
Molloy, John. 
Malcahey, M. J. 
Mulligan, James. 
Mulvihill, James. 
Murphy, James. 
Murphy, James T. 
Murphy, John. 
Murray, Matthew. 
Murray, Michael. 
Nesmith, John P., Mrs. 
Neumann, Francis A. 
O'Brian, Charles. 
O'Brien, John E. 
O'Brien, Patrick. 
O'Conner, Bernard. 
O'Connor, J. 
O'Connor, Thomas. 
O'Donohue, J. J. 
O'Donovan, Jeremiah. 
O'Meara, Catharine F., Mrs. 
O'Rourke, Felix. 
Plunkett, John, Mrs. 
Quinlan, John. 
Raab, John H. 
Regan, David, Mrs. 
Reidy, Edmund. 
Reilly, James. 
Reynolds, John F. 
Riley, Edward. 
Roche, James. 
Roche, John. 
Savney, Philip. 
Seery, Bernard. 
Shaw, Patrick. 
Skelly, Thomas. 
Smith, James. 
Smith, Philip. 
Smith, W. J. 
Swefeney, Edward. 
Weeks, Tirus, 
Wheeler, Thomas. 
White, Michael. 
Wilson, James. 



K 




CHURCH OF ST. JOHN THE EVANGELIST. 437 



THE REV. JAMES McMAHON, 

PASTOR OF THE CHURCH OF ST. JOHN THE EVANGELIST. 



THE Rev. James McMahon was born in Ireland, 
and was educated at Maynooth, where liis 
uncle was for several years President. The young can- 
didate for the priesthood distinguished himself by the 
depth and solidity of his studies; and after his ordina- 
tion he proceeded to the Seminary of St. Sulpice, Paris, in 
order to pursue still further the theological studies to 
which he was attached. From the seminary in Paris he 
proceeded to the institution of that learned body in Mon- 
treal ; but in 1843 came to New York, where he was 
appointed by Bishop Hughes assistant at St. Mary's 
Church, while the Very Rev. William Starrs was pastor. 
He remained here till he was appointed parish priest of 
St. John the Evangelist, and was greatly regretted by 
the faithful at St. Mary's. 

In the parish with which he has been so long iden- 
tified he is greatly respected. The poor have ever found 
in him a kind and generous friend. In his ministry 
he has been pious, devoted, and unwearied, while his man- 
agement of affairs has been judicious, inspiring every 



438 CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 

confidence, so that the faithful are ever ready to co- 
operate in any good work. 

He is a Hebrew and Biblical scholar of remarkable 
ability. He published in 1848 what may be regarded 
as an entirely new version of the New Testament, based 
indeed on Challoner's revision of the old Douay, but in 
which he brought to bear the results of his years of special 
study. He also edited, with many evidences of his crit- 
ical ability, the Haydock Bible, issued by Edward Duni- 
gan & Brother, and now pubHshed by Thomas Kelly 
of this city. His Testament is now issued by Kelly, 
Piet & Co., of Baltimore. 

In music he is a great proficient; not only fully 
versed in all the best ecclesiastical masters, but is also 
skillful in the manufacture of musical instruments. Church 
organs have been his especial study, and the improve- 
ments introduced by him have been many and import- 
ant; though, as we have seen, the first great work of 
his skill perished in the fire that laid St. John's in 
ashes. 




CHURCH OF SAINT JOSEPH. 

SIXTH AVENUJi. 



CHURCH OF SAINT JOSEPH. 

SIXTH AVENUE AND WEST WASHINGTON PLACE. 



BISHOP DU BOIS, in the impulse whicli lie gave 
to the needed church extension in his epis- 
copal city, showed his devotion to the Holy Family by 
dedicating the first churches to Jesus, Mary, and Jo- 
seph. The edifice in Ann Street already bore the 
name of our Blessed Lord ; that in Sheriff Street re- 
ceived that of his holy Mother Immaculate ; a third was 
to bear the name of Joseph, the foster father of our 
Saviour, the princely but humble descendant of David. 
Greenwich Village was then an outlying suburb of 
the settled part of New York, reached by a pleasant 
road that ran off from Broadway towards the North River. 
There were Catholics here in sufficient number to form a 
congregation, but no means had been taken to supply their 
want or to rouse them to act; though the Orangemen, in 
1824, had managed to create a riot here for which several 
were punished. " 1 have been unable," wrote this Right 
Reverend Bishop, in March 1830, " to procure means to 
build a church in one of the suburbs, where the Cath- 
olic population is very considerable, and too far fi-om 
other churches for them to attend. I have accordingly 



CHURCH OF ST. JOSEPH. 441 

been obliged to hire, for two hundred dollars a year, a 
very large hall, which can hold seven or eight hundred 
persons. It is another burden that falls entirely on me, 
poor as I am." 

In this hall, situated on Grove Street, the Catholics 
of the " village " were organized under the law, the 
trustees of the new Church of St. Joseph being Eugene 
Cummiskey, John Devlin, Andrew Leary, Joseph Lamb, 
and Patrick Kinsala, and preparations made to erect a 
church. Bishop Du Bois confided the task to the Rev. 
James Cummiskey, and early in the year 1833, lots were 
purchased in the name of the new corporation, on the 
corner of Sixth Avenue and Bari'ow Street. Here, on 
the tenth of June, 1833, the comer-stone of St. Joseph's 
Church was laid, with all the ceremonies, rejoicing the 
hearts of the Catholic body, as St. Mary's had been 
dedicated only the day before. The erection of the 
church was then begun. There were some devoted and 
zealous Catholics ready to contribute, but there were 
some actuated by a wretched spirit of mischief ; and 
even in what was considered the Catholic paper, there 
appeared a communication of the most insulting charac- 
ter addressed to the venerable and devoted Bishop, who 
was doing all in his power to afPord the Catholics of 
that portion of his diocese the opportunity of fulfilling 
their sacred obligations. 

The trustees promptly answered the wretched slan- 



442 CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 

derer, sustaining the Bishop and the clergyman appointed 
by him. 

The church was well advanced, as we find, in the 
Catholic paper of October 5th, the following advertise- 
ment, which will seem curious to the present generation 
of Catholics : — 

" St. Joseph's Chuech. — The trustees respectfully in- 
\ate the friends of this chm-ch to the ceremony of what is 
generally called the Raising^ which will take place at 
tliree o'clock this afternoon, under the direction of Mr. 
James Dempsey, master carpenter. 

'' By order, 

'' Joseph Lamb, Sec'y." 

The church was completed, early in 1834, sufficiently 
to admit of its being dedicated to the service of God ; 
Mr. John Doran being the architect; Dempsey, Dougherty, 
and Foley, the builders. The solemn ceremony took 
place on Sunday, the 16th of March. 

Catholics looked to the new church with pride. It 
was, next to the cathedral, the largest church they yet 
had in the great City of New York. It contained two 
hundred and seventy pews, and had galleries with seats 
so arranged that all fronted the altar. The ceiling was 
paneled, and decorated in artistic style, with festoons of 
flowers and vines, while the altar was something wonder- 
ful for its time, and described as a " costly and superb 
specimen of Italian workmanship." 



CHURCH OF ST. JOSEPH. 443 

The scene within the sanctuary, when the office for 
the dedication of a church was performed, was one 
worthy of being commemorated by an historic painting. 
From the sacristy came forth the procession, led by 
acolytes, followed by the clergy and the Right Reverend 
Bishop, and when the Pontifical High Mass followed, 
there stood at the altar the venerable Bishop Du Bois, 
founder of Mount St. Mary's ; in the robes of a deacon, 
the Rev. Wm. Quarter, who was to die Bishop of Chi- 
cago ; and in the tunic of a subdeacon, the Rev. John 
McCloskey, future Bishop, Archbishoj), and America's first 
Cardinal ; while among the clergy present in surplice 
and cassock was the erect form and commanding counte- 
nance of the Rev. John Hughes of Philadelphia, who, 
as successor of the officiating prelate, was to make his 
name known throughout the world. 

The other priests noted as present that day are 
known among those who lived to be veterans in the 
army of the Lord — the Rev. J. A. Schneller, who acted 
as master of ceremonies, the Rev. J. Cummiskey, first 
pastor of St. Joseph's; the Rev. John Kelly, Rev. John 
Conroy. 

The sermon was preached by the Rev. Charles C. 
Pise, D.D., taking as his text the words of II. Paralipome- 
non, vii. 16 : "I have chosen and have sanctified this 
place, that my name may be there forever, and my eyes 
and my heart may remain there pei*petually." The ser- 



444 CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 

mon, full of beauties of style and eloquent movement, 
showed the perpetuity and imchangeability of religion; its 
perfection under Jesus Chi-ist, who confeiTed on it that 
grace which, of all possible institutions, is the most per- 
fect and sublime. He drew the history of the church 
and her altars founded on the rock. " This rock, on 
which her foundations were laid in the beginning, has 
not yielded, in the least, to the fury of the waves, 
but still dashes back, as it ever did, the foam of ages 
and the tempest's wrath. Like some high and solitary 
beacon shedding an undying light upon the waste of 
waters, the Church rears her heaven-lit head over the 
desolation of the jDast and the changes of the present, 
to remain in her grand and solitary position, beaming 
down on time the light of eternity." 

The collection with the money received for tickets 
amounted to fifteen hundred dollars — a large sum for 
New York nearly fifty years ago. 

Almost contemporaneous with the erection of St. 
Joseph's, the good bishop began, in the same district, 
an excellent charity, the Half Orphan Asylum. It was 
incorporated May 2, 1835, as the Asylum for the Re- 
lief of the Children of Poor Widowers and Widows. It 
was placed under the care of the Sisters of Charity, 
and it was hoped that the surviving parent would con- 
tribute sufiicient to enable the asylum to tln-ive, with a 
little assistance from the various congregations; but it 



CHURCH OF ST. JOSEPH. 445 

soon proved that the revenue from this source was very- 
trifling. For years the Easter collection in all the 
churches went to the support of this Asylum, but it 
was sustained mainly by the generosity of a few de- 
voted Catholics, chiefly members of St. Joseph's congre- 
gation. By an act passed April 13th, 1852, the Orphan 
and Half Orphan Asylums were united, and the building 
used by the latter became St. Vincent's Hospital. 

The parish of St. Joseph was very large. It ex- 
tended for many years from Canal Street to Twentieth 
Street, west of Broadway, entailing severe labor on the 
clergyman, especially in the visitation of the sick. The 
church had scarcely been opened when the cholera for 
the second time SAvept over New York, with less deadly 
efifect than in 1832, but still carrying off thousands of 
victims. 

The Rev. Mr. Cummiskey, with the other clergymen 
of the city, showed the utmost devotedness in this 
period. He did not remain, however, long in charge of 
the parish, being succeeded before the close of the year 
by the Rev. Dr. Charles Constantine Pise, who remained 
at St. Joseph's for about two years. He was a native 
of Maryland, a brilliant writer and orator, of elegant 
and attractive manners. He was one of the earliest in 
this country to attempt to diffuse among Catholics a class 
of lighter and more attractive literature, in which the 
doctrines and practices of the Church were defended or 



446 CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 

correctly represented. His poetry was also of a liigh 
order, based on tlie purest models. With Dr. Yarela lie 
was for several years editor of the Catholic Expositor, 
and frequently contributed to other Catholic periodicals. 
After leaving St. Joseph's he was for many years at St. 
Peter's, and then founded the Church of St. Charles Bor- 
romeo, Brooklyn, where he died. 

During Dr. Pise's incumbency, the church was com- 
pleted and some improvements made, and a fine fresco 
of the Transfiguration, after Raphael, was painted as the 
altar-piece. A sacred oratorio was given in October, 1835, 
to meet the expense of these ameliorations. Dr. Pise was 
active in exertions, by lectures, sermons, and fairs, in be- 
half of the Half Orphan Asylum, then on Sixth Avenue, 
and containing a hundred children. 

In 1838, the Right Rev. Bishop Hughes appointed 
to St. Joseph's the Rev. John McCloskey, who brought 
to this pastoral charge all his learning and experience, as 
well as those personal gifts which endear him to all. He 
remained the revered pastor till the opening of St. John's 
College, Fordham, in 1841, when he became the first presi- 
dent and real founder of that institution, giving it from 
the outset the high character it has always maintained. 
During his presidency of the college he continued to 
discharge his duties at St. Joseph's, and when Dr. Man- 
ahan became president of St. John's, the Rev. Mr. Mc- 
Closkey, to the delight of the parish, was again wholly 



CHUECH OF ST. JOSEPH. 447 

theirs. He was assisted successively by the Rev. B. 
Carraher, the Rev. D. W. Bacon, afterwards Bishop of 
Portland, and the Rev. J. P. Burke. 

The Rev. Mr. McCarron was an energetic priest, 
highly esteemed by Archbishop Hughes, who, in time, 
made him archdeacon of the diocese. He was un- 
wearied in attending to his duties, and always ready to 
hasten to the couch of the sick, in the most inclement 
weather and at the most distant points of his parish. 
Large as it was, and scattered as his flock, not a Catho- 
Hc died without the sacraments through any remissness 
or neglect on his part. He was as devoted in the con- 
fessional, and at all the offices of the Chiu-ch. 

As soon as he had introduced system into the af- 
fairs of the diocese, he set himself heart and soul to 
establish parocliial schools for the young of both sexes, 
in order to secure them that training in the faith which 
can alone save them from the allurements of vice, often 
insidiously masked under the disguise of proselyting 
zeal. 

Early in 1855, by his unweared exertions, he com- 
pleted a school building on Leroy Street, which Catho- 
lics then justly regarded as magnificent. It was opened 
on the 16th of April. The boys were under the care 
of Brothers of the Christian Schools, and soon numbered 
four hundred and fifty. Thi-ee Sisters of Charity as- 
sumed the direction of the four hundred girls who were 



448 CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 

sent to receive an education at their liand^ under tlie 
patronage of tlie foster father of our Lord. He did 
not stop here. The next year the Sisters of Charity 
opened on Sixth Avenue an academy, which to this day 
has enjoyed the highest popularity, and trained many 
young ladies most creditably. 

From 1845 to 1849, the Eev. Mr. McCarron was 
assisted by the Rev. William Quinn, now for many 
years the distinguished Vicar General of the diocese, 
who, at the bier of the pastor of St. Joseph's, paid an 
eloquent tribute to his worth. Among other curates may 
be named the Rev. William Everett, so long identified 
with the Church of the Nativity, and the Rev. Jerome 
Nobriga, who, placed in St. Joseph's by Bishop Hughes 
in 1849, is still, after nearly thirty years' parochial work, 
laboring in the same parish. 

After ten years' service at St. Joseph's, the Rev. 
Mr. McCarron was transferred to St. Mary's, and died 
pastor of that church, February 23, 1867. 

He was succeeded at St. Joseph's Church by the 
present parish priest, the Rev. Thomas Farrell, under 
whose able management the church has prospered won- 
derfully. During his long pastoral relation of more than 
twenty-two years, he has had, among other cm-ates, be- 
sides the venerable Mr. Nobriga, the Rev. E. Maguire, 
Rev. Hugh T. Brady, Rev. P. McSweeny, Rev. Reuben 
Parsons, Rev. James O'Leary, Rev. E. A. Dunphy, Rev. 



CHURCH OF ST. JOSEPH. 449 

John P. McClancy, Eev. John J. Duffy, Eev. John Fitz- 
harris, and his present capable assistants, Rev. J. B. Salter 
and Eev. J. J. McCauley. 

Among incidents worthy of note was the administer- 
ing of the Holy Sacrament of Confirmation, on the 23d 
of May, 1861, by the Bishop of Guadalajara, Mexico, 
then • banished from his see, who was thus enabled to 
judge, by the order and regularity in the services of 
the church and the number of both sexes who approached 
the sacraments, how real was the progress of the faith 
in the United States. 

Although the churches of St. Alphonsus Liguori, St. 
Anthony of Padua, St. Bernard, and St. Francis Xavier, 
have all been erected within the bounds of the parish 
of St. Joseph as it existed a few years ago, the congre- 
gation is still a very large one, and the church can 
barely, by the numerous services on Sundays and holi- 
days, enable the faithful to hear mass. The Catholic 
population of the parish is estimated at fifteen thousand,' 
while the church can at most hold two thousand. The 
academy and schools maintain their efficiency, and by 
the number of pupils show that the flock is a large 
one ; there being nearly a thousand children in the pa- 
rochial schools. 

The piety of the faithful is kept alive by various 

sodalities and pious, associations, while the Temperance 

Society has been the instrument of much good. 
29 



460 CATHOLIC CHUECHES OF NEW YOKK. 


HoLL OF I- 


_ONOR. 


CHURCH 


OF ST. JOSEPH (SIXTH AVENUE). 1 


Anderson, Patrick. 


Fenlay, Michael. 


McCosker, T. 


Bailey, Jolm H. 


Floyd, James R. 


McCray, William. 


Bain, Thomas. 


Francis, Robert. 


McGinn, John. 


Baker, William H. . 


Frank, Augustus A. 


McGinnity, Dennis. 


Behan, John. 


Gumbleton, Henry A. 


McGovern, Thomas, Mrs. 


Berenholtz, George N. 


Haight, Ann, Mrs. 


McHugh, John. 


Bergen, William. 


Halloway, John. 


McKenna, Patrick. 


Bourke, Godfrey R. 


Hand, John. 


McLaughlin, Ann. 


Brady, Edward. 


Harney, William. 


McParten, J. G. 


Brennan, William. 


Harrigan, Edward. 


MacKane, John. 


Brett, Joseph William. 


Hart, Martin. 


Maher, Murtha J. 


Bm-gess, Mary A., Mrs. 


Hayes, Patrick, Mrs. 


Mohan, Bernard. 


Burns, John. 


Hayward, Robert, Mrs. 


Mahon, N. P. 


Byrne, Michael. 


Healy, Nicholas. 


Monahan, Thomas. 


Cantwell, John, Mrs. 


Holmes, James. 


Moore, Elizabeth. 


Carney, Jame.-. 


Howe, George P. 


INIorange, Martina, Mrs. 


Carraher, T. 


Kane, John. 


Mount, D. Mrs. 


Carroll, James. 


Keane, John. 


Murphy, John. 


Cassin, Catharine, Mrs. 


Kearney, H. 


Murphy, M., Mrs. 


Cavanagh, John, Mrs. 


Keenan, John. 


Murray, Frank. 


Clark, Bernard. 


Kelly, James. 


Norris, John, Mrs. 


Clarke, John. 


Kelly, P. 


O'Hara, John. 


Condon, Edward. 


Kelly, Thomas. 


O'Neil, D. Edwin. 


Conlon, James, INIis. 


Kennedy, Arthur J. 


O'Neil, James. 


Cosgrove, John. 


Kennedy, Thomas E. 


O'Neil, Lawrence, Mrs. 


Conville, Thomas. 


Kenney, Bartholomew F. 


Quigley. John. 


Coonan, Thomas. 


Kernan, J. A. 


Quigley, Thomas. 


Corbett, James. 


Killeen, Edward. 


Quinn, Peter. 


Coughlan, Michael. 


King, Hugh. 


Rafferty, Patrick. 


Coyle, D. E. 


Laden,_John. 


Redmond, Mary T., Mrs. 


Cronin, John. 


Lee, John. 


Scott, John. 


Dailey, Margaret E., Mrs. 


Leonard. John. 


Scully, John S. 


Dolan, John. 


Logue, Patrick. 


Severance, Joseph H., Mrs 


Donnelly, M. 


Lynch, James. 


Shell, Patrick. 


Dougherty, Michael F. 


Lynch, Jolm. 


Skelly, Patrick. 


Driscoll, James. 


McCarthy, John C. 


Sterritt, William. 


Ennis, Louisa J., Mrs. 


McCarvill, John. 


, Walker, William H. 


Farrell, William. 


McConnell, John J. 


Walsh, George. 


Fay, James. 


Finnell, Thomas C. 


Walsh, Thomas F. 



i 



CHURCH OF ST. JOSEPH. 451 



REV. THOMAS FAERELL, 

PASTOR OF THE CHURCH OF ST. JOSEPH. 



THE Rev. Thomas Farrell, who has for more than 
twenty years been the spiritual guide and father 
of the flock gathered under the invocation of the Patron 
of the Universal Church, is a native of Ireland. 

He was born in the County Longford in 1823, and 
came to this country in childhood. After studying the 
rudiments in local schools, he entered the College of 
Mount St. Mary's, at Emmettsburg, and was graduated in 
that institution. At the close of his theological course in 
the seminary connected with the college, he was ordained 
priest some time in the year 1847. 

The next year, having joined the Diocese of New 
York, he was appointed chaplain to the mother house of 
the Sisters of Charity at Mount St. Vincent, and minis- 
tered in the beautiful chapel still standing within the 
limits of the Central Park. He was soon after associated 
with the Rev. Richard Kein as one of the assistant 
priests at St. Bridget's Church. 

At the close of the year 1852, the Right Rev. Bishop 
Hughes, satisfied with the ability and zeal he had dis- 



452 



CATHOLIC CHUECHES OF NEW YORK; 



played, appointed liim pastor of St. Paul's Church, Har- 
lem, and he remained in charge of that church till the 
year 1854. He was then called to the more important 
city parish of St. Mary's, which he directed till his 
appointment as pastor of St. Joseph's, in 1857. 

His career in this parish has been one in which he 
has won the esteem of the people confided to his care, 
as an earnest, pious, solid priest. ' Among his fellow 
priests he is esteemed as one of clear and vigorous 
mind, a wise counsellor in difficulty. 

The Rev. Mr. Farrell was one of those who took a 
deep interest in the late Orestes A. Brownson. When 
circumstances compelled that illustrious convert to stop 
the publication of the JReview, which had done such ser- 
vice to the cause of truth from the time of his conver- 
sion to the faith, the Rev. Mr. Farrell, with the late 
Rev. Dr. Cummings and others, raised a fund and pm*- 
chased an annuity for the great Catholic philosopher. 



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CHURCH OF SAINT JOSEPH (GERMAN). 

EAST EIGHTY-SEVENTH STREET, YORKVILLE. 



A 



LTHOUGH a Catholic church at Yorkville had 
afforded CathoHcs for some years the opportu- 
nity of taking part in the Holy Sacrifice and approach- 
ing the sacraments, still, as the number of German 
Catholics increased, they began to think of forming a 
congregation by themselves. 

The right reverend Fathers of Third Street freely 
permitted mass to be said in the asylum for the Cathohcs 
of their nationality. For some years, the Rev. Theresius 
S. Gezowsky attended this little flock without being able 
to obtain such aid as would justify commencing to build 
a church. 

The congregation had, however, grown so rapidly 
that the most influential German Catholics of Yorkville 
thought of having a church of their own. They called 
on Father Bapst, the late provincial of the Jesuit Fathers 
of New York, and begged of him to give them a priest 



OHUECH OF ST. JOSEPH. 



455 



of tlie Society of Jesus for commencing the work. As 
other rehgious orders were administering to the German 
CathoHcs in New York, it was only becoming that the 
society to which the pioneer priest — the German Jesuit, 
Father Farmer — belonged, should also labor in the 
same field. In consequence, the Reverend Father Bapst 
acceded to their request, and, with the permission of his 
Eminence, the Rev. Joseph Durthaller, an experienced 
priest, was selected for the new parochial duties. He con- 
tinued to occupy with his flock the Asylum chapel while 
he erected a new church which took the same name, 
that of the Universal Patron of the Catholic Church. 
Five lots of ground on Eighty-seventh Street were pur- 
chased of Mr. S. Hillebrand, and on this spot the erec- 
tion of a fine brick church was begun, in 1873, 
under the supervision of L. O'Connor, Esq., architect. It 
was completed early in the following year. The new 
Church of St. Joseph, forty-six feet in front by ninety- 
six in depth, was dedicated by the Most Reverend 
Ai'chbishop McCloskey on the 26th of April, 1874. Af- 
ter the edifice had, by holy rite and prayer, been set 
apart to God's service, a High Mass was offered by the 
Rev. William Gockeln, S.J., President of St. John's 
College, Fordham, and a sermon was preached On the 
happy occasion by the Rev. Joseph Wirth, C.SS.R., of 
the Church of the Most Holy Redeemer. 

Annexed to the church is an office and a parochial 



456 



CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 



residence, erected at the same time as St. Joseph's, the 
whole costing about forty-eight thousand dollars. 

The church contains a hundred and four pews, and 
will accommodate about a thousand persons. It has been 
well attended, not only by Germans but by other Catho- 
lics in the vicinity, and promises, in a few years, under 
zealous care, to become a fervent and thriving parish, as 
the number steadily increases. 

In 1877, there were in this church one hundred and 
eighty-nine baptisms and sixteen marriages. 

The reverend pastor is assisted by two other Fathers 
of his order, the Rev. John Hackspiel, S.J., and the Rev. 
G. Frederici, S.J. To encom-age piety in their flock, they 
have established a benevolent society for men, an Altar 
Society, and three sodalities — one for married women, 
one for young men, and one for young women. 

Fathers of the Society of Jesus cannot be indifferent 
to the cause of Catholic education. A school was at 
once organized in the parish, and, till a suitable building 
can be erected, the pupils, now numbering one hundred 
and sixty, tlu-ough the kindness of the Redemptorist 
Fathers, attend the school at the Orphan Asylum under 
their charge, in Eighty-ninth Street. The new school- 
house is to be erected in 1879. 

Besides the duties connected with the parish, the 
Fathers at St. Joseph's attend the House of the Good 
Shepherd, Ninetieth Street and East River. This noble 



CHURCH OF ST. JOSEPH. 



457 



t 



institution was established in 1857, at 191 East Four- 
teenth Street, by the Sisters of Charity of Oui' Lady 
of the Good Shepherd, and was subsequently removed to 
its present location. Its object is the reformation of pen- 
itent women, who desire to leave a life of sin. For 
those who, entering themselves, wish, with God's grace, 
to remain away from the world and its temptations, there 
is connected with the Convent of the Sisters a Magdalen 
House of Reformed Penitents, under the rule of the 
Third Order of St. Teresa. This extensive establishment 
contains, in the Convent of the Good Shepherd, thirty- 
four professed choir sisters, and sixty-two others belong- 
ing to the community; seventy-one of the Order of St. 
Teresa, governed by the Sisters of the Good Shepherd, 
and three hundred and fifty-eight voluntary penitents and 
detentioners. 



458 



CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 



Roll of Honor. 



CHURCH OF ST. JOSEPH (EAST EIGHTY-SEVENTH STREET). 



Ahans, H. 
Amend, Barbara. 

Amend, Eliza. 
Baab, George. 
Baab, Henry. 
Baab, Peter. 
Berman, Jacob. 
Bolender, Charles. 
Clemens, C. 
Deckelman, William. 
Ebel, Sebastian. 
Eichorn, Joseph. 
Ehret, George. 
Elfring, Bernard. 
Funke, Francis. 
Geiger, F. 
Gobel, Gustav. 
Henning, Mary M., Mrs. 
Herbold, Herman. 
Herold, Julius. 

Wurtenberger, 



Hesse, Joseph. 
Hertel, Francis. 
Hillenbrand, F. 
Kert, E. 

Lanz, Frederick L. 
Leininger, Adam. 
Ludwig, A. 
Meixel, Ignatius. 
Realander, Anton. 
Rebman, Josephine, Mrs. 
Repp, Charles. 
Ruppert, J., Mrs. 
Schappert, John. 
Schmidt, Charles. 
Sommer, Henry. 
Stein, F. 
Stoiber, Jacob. 
Warrman, Robert. 
Weiss, Fridolin. 
Wetzel, Stephen. 
Martin. 



CHURCH OF ST. JOSEPH. 459 



EEV. JOSEPH DUETHALLEE, S.J., 

PASTOE OF THE CHURCH OF ST. JOSEPH (GERMAN), YORKVILLE. 



THE pastor of St. Joseph's Churcli is one who has 
. labored, in various parts of the State, in the 
ministry, and in the great work of Cluistian education. 

He was born on the 28th of November, 1819, at 
Altkirch, then in the department of Haut Ehin, France, 
in that Alsace which Bourbons won and Bonapartes lost. 
Devoting himself to the service of God, he entered a 
seminary, and was ordained at Strasbourg by Mgr. Eoess, 
Bishop of that city, on the eve of Christmas day, in 
the year 1843. His first year of priesthood was spent 
as one of the teachers in an admirable academy, the 
Institut de la Toussaint, established at Strasbourg by the 
Abbe Bautain ; but as he felt himself called to a relig- 
ious life, he entered the Society of Jesus, October 13th, 
1844. He was soon after sent to the American Mission, 
arri-ving in New York in May, 1849. His first year 
was spent among the Iroquois Indians, at Caughnawa- 
ga, near the Sault St. Louis, above Montreal. He was 
then successively at St. Mary's College, Montreal, and at 
Quebec. 



460 



CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 



In New York he was attaclied to the College of 
St. Francis Xavier, and held the responsible position of 
president of that institution from 1860 to 1863. During 
his continuance in office, finding the old college insuffi- 
cient for the wants of the students, he projected a new 
and finer structure, and erected the large eastern portion 
of the new college. Having been afterwards sent to 
Buffalo, to take charge of a German congregation, he 
erected St. Michael's, one of the most splendid churches 
in that city. 

His labors at St. Joseph's appear in our sketch of 
that church, and need not be repeated. 



CHURCH OF SAINT JOSEPH (GERMAN). 

ONE HUNDRED A,ND TWENTY-FIFTH STREET AND NINTH AVENUE, 

MANHATTANVILLE. 



A 



BOUT tlie year 1859, the need of another clmrcli 
was felt at Manhattanville, and a priest was as- 
signed to minister to the Grerman CathoHcs in that district. 

The Ladies of the Sacred Heart kindly granted the 
use of a little chapel on their extensive and beautiful 
grounds, and in this for a time the new congregation, 
placing itself under the patronage of the glorious patri- 
arch St. Joseph, enjoyed all the ministrations of their 
religion. 

When the little society felt able to undertake the 
work of erecting a chui-ch, foui* lots of ground were 
purchased, in 1860, and the present chui'ch erected. It 
was dedicated on the 5th day of September, 1860, by 
the Very Rev. WilHam StaiTs, Vicar General of the 
diocese. 

St Joseph's is a handsome brick chm-ch with a 
stone basement ; it is forty-five feet in width by one 
hundred in depth, and is elegantly frescoed by Griovan- 
elli. The organ is a fine one, made by Engehried, at a 
cost of three thousand five hundred dollars. 



CHUECH OF ST. JOSEPH. 463 

Witli its galleries the cliurcli will seat six liundi'ed, 
and cost originally about fifteen thousand dollars. 

The first pastor assigned to this church, October 
21st, 1860, was the Rev. F. Karel, who continued to 
officiate here till June 20th, 1864, when he resigned ; 
and, after some pastoral duty in the Church of the Im- 
maculate Conception, Melrose, is now chaplain of the 
Franciscan Sisters at Peekskill. 

The next pastor was the Rev. Dr. Gerber of the 
Order of St. Francis, who was recalled by his superiors 
in the following year. The Most Reverend Archbishop 
then appointed the Rev. Anthony Kesseler, who is still 
pastor of St. Joseph's. 

The pastor finding the church in difiiculty went to work 
energetically, and, by the strictest economy in all details, 
restored the credit of the church and paid off a con- 
siderable amount of the debt, meeting demands in full. 

Coeval with the building of the church, a school 
was organized and lay teachers were engaged to conduct 
it, but in 1869, the Ladies of the Sacred Heart kindly 
undertook to teach the girls, as they do to this day. The 
boys remain under lay teachers. The pupils number in 
all about two hundred children. 

Sunday-schools were established, both for Grerman 
and English children. 

In 1871, the Rev. Mr. Kesseler enlarged the church, 
at a cost of six thousand dollars and procured new bells 



464 CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 


for the steeple ; 


and three years after he erected the 1 


handsome and commodious pastoral residence near the _ 1 


church. 




The Eev. Mr 


. Kesseler is assisted by the Rev. Ig- 


natius Delveaux. 


There are masses daily in the church' 


and on Sundays 


and holidays two masses at seven 


and eight ; a hig 


1 mass with English sermon at nine 


o'clock ; and another with sermon in German at half 1 


past ten. 


• 


Roll of Honor. 




CHURCH OF ST. JOSEPH, 1 


(WEST ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-FIFTH STREET). 1 


Baldwin, Mrs. 


Geoghegan, Stephen J. Murray, Mary, Mrs. 


Banks, Mary. 


Grinnon, Daniel, Mrs. Noonan, Michael. 


Becker, John. 


Halpin, Z. J. Ohmeis, Peter M. 


Becker, Philip. 


Herring, William, Mrs. O'Neill, Charles. 


Borst, Charles, Mrs. 


nines, Edward. Orthaus, Joseph. 


Brendel, John. 


Hopper, Isaac. O'Shea, Patrick. 


Bried, Gertrude. 


Klemm, Elizabeth. Reid, John. 


Daly, Daniel. 


Klemm, Kate. Schneider, Theodore. 


Daly, Matthew. 


Klemm, Magdalena. Stewart, Alexander T. 


Daly, Timothy. 


Kennedy, Michael. Sullivan, Charles. 


Daly, Timothy, jr. 


Eaiiffen, William. Sullivan, James. 


D'Esterhazy, Paul 0. 


Lerche, Alprecht. Sullivan, John. 


Doran, Thomas. 


Loughran, Charles. Sweeny, Ellen. 


Doyle, James. 


Maidhoff, Conrad. Theis, John. 


Dunican, Patrick. 


Mansfield,MariaL., Mrs. Tone, Thomas. 


Erving, Edward, Mrs. 


Martin, John. Wagner, Frank. 


Faulhaber, Philip. 


Marx, A., Mrs. Wiilard, Mrs. 


Ferdinand, John. 


Marz, Frederick. Windolph, Frances. 


Fink, Adam. 


Meyer, Adam. Zchweitzer, William. 


Fischbach, Charles. 


Murphy, John. Zweifel, Joseph. 



1^ 




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CHURCH OF ST. JOSEPH. 465 



REV. ANTHONY KESSELER, 

PASTOK OF THE CHURCH OF ST. JOSEPH, MANHATTANVILLE. 



THE pastor of St. Joseph's Cliurch is a native of 
■ the Rhenish Province, in Germany. He was 
born in the year 1840. 

He came to the United States while still in his 
boyhood, in the year 1851, and entered a collegiate 
institute directed by a talented convert, Dr. White. From 
this he proceeded to St. Peter's College, in Cumberland, 
Maryland, directed by the Redemptorist Fathers. 

As he had made choice of the ecclesiastical state, he 
entered St. Mary's Seminary, Baltimore, the oldest theo- 
logical school in the country, directed by the Society of 
St. Sulpice. He completed his divinity course, however, 
in the Seminary of our Lady of the Angels, at Niagara 
Falls, and was ordained priest in old St. Patrick's Cathe- 
dral, New York, on the 22d of April, 1865, by the 
Most Reverend Archbishop, at present his Eminence 
Cardinal McCloskey. 

He was at once assigned to duty as assistant pastor 

of St. Nicholas' Church, where he remained several 

months, exercising his first ministry in that parish. 
30 



466 CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 

He was soon called to another position ; the Most 
Reverend Archbishop selected him to undertake the diffi- 
cult task of extricating St. Joseph's Church from its 
embarrassments. 

He was accordingly appointed pastor on the 5th of 
September, 1865. He has been singularly successful in 
relieving the church from its troubles, restoring general 
confidence, reducing the debt, enlarging the sacred edifice 
itself, and enhancing the usefulness of the schools. 




CHURCH OF SAINT JOSEPH, (GERMAN). 

WASHINGTON AVENUE neau ONE HUNDKED AND SEVENTY-SIXTH STREET. 



CHURCH OF SAINT JOSEPH. 

WASHINGTON AVENUE, NEAR ONE HUNDRED AND SEVENTY-SIXTH 

STREET, TREMONT. 



TREMONT, formerly in Westchester County, bnt in 
the portion recently added to the City of New 
York, has a church dedicated to the great St. Joseph. 
It is another proof of the Avidespread devotion among 
the Catholics of the city to that saint, one of whose 
ardent clients, the great St. Teresa, declared that she 
never sought any favor thi'ough his intercession in vain. 

The church in Tremont is due to the zeal and ac- 
tivity of a priest known by other labors in the city — 
the Rev. Joseph Stumpe. Finding that the locality was 
without a church, that the faithful ought, if their piety 
was not of the most tepid kind, to be able to erect a 
suitable church, he gave himself to the undertaking. 

The confidence in the Catholic body there was not 
misplaced. The proposal to erect a church was re- 
sponded to ; a site was sought and soon found, at what 
was deemed a reasonable price, and plans obtained for a 
church of solid and enduring character. 

The corner-stone was laid in the month of October, 



CHURCH OF ST. JOSEPH. 469 

1873, and the church work was pushed vigorously dur- 
ing the winter, so that the new edifice was dedicated on 
the Sunday after the ensuing feast of the Holy Patri- 
arch, March 22, 1874 The Very Eev. WiUiam Quinn, 
V.G., officiated on the consoling occasion, assisted by 
the pastor, Eev. Joseph Stumpe, and a number of clergy- 
men assembled to join in the joy of the congregation. 
A Solemn High Mass was then offered by the Rev. R. 
Kleineidam, C.SS.R., assisted by Fathers Jungbauer and 
Daiermayer, as deacon and subdeacon. The sermon was 
preached by the Rev. Joseph M. Sorg, pastor of the 
Church of St. Louis in Buffalo; and after the post-com- 
munion the Very Reverend Vicar Greneral congratulated 
the German Catholics of Tremont on their fidelity to the 
faith amid the persecutions and false ideas of the nine- 
teenth century, and on the zeal of which their church 
was so noble a monument. 

The Chiurch of St. Joseph is a fine structure, in the 
modern Grothic style, forty feet in width by a hundred 
and twenty-five in depth, with windows of stained glass, 
the decorations and the general appointments of the in- 
terior being carried out in the utmost elegance and 
taste. 

This Church of St. Joseph cost about fifty thousand 
dollars. The interior is handsomely finished, in a neat 
and effective manner. There is a high altar, with two 
side altars and a spacious sanctuary. 



470 CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 

The basement of the church, which, being on a level 
with the street, is high and airy, is at present used 
as a school. 

The reverend founder of the church was succeeded, 
in 1874, by the Rev. J. Sorg, who was appointed by 
the Most Reverend Archbishop as resident pastor. In the 
early part of the year 1877, the present pastor, Rev. 
Nicholas Tonner, succeeded to the charge. 

Connected with the church are the Society of St. 
Joseph, a charitable organization, and the Altar Society 
of the Immaculate Conception. 

The Sunday-school is carefully directed, and has 
about a hundred and fifty pupils. 

The congregation is not at present very large, but 
it is one that must increase, and fill the beautiful chui'ch 
edifice they possess. 




/ fa 




OHUKOH OF ST. JOSEPH. 471 



REV. NICHOLAS J. S. TONNER, 

PASTOE OF ST. JOSEPH'S CHUKCH, TEEMONT. 



THE pastor of tlie cliurcli at Tremont is a young 
and capable priest, tlie second one of the fam- 
ily engaged in the ministry in the Diocese of New 
York — his cousin being parish priest at the Church of 
St. Mary Magdalen. 

The Rev. Nicholas J. B. Tonner was born April 4, 
1850, at Stewardstown, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. 
His early education was received at the parochial school 
in the neighboring town of Sharpsburg, and he is thus 
a proof of the fruits of our parochial system of educa- 
tion. To complete his studies he entered the College of 
St. Vincent, Westmoreland County, under the direction 
of the learned Order of St. Benedict; and, being called 
to the ecclesiastical state, went through his philosophy 
and divinity studies in the theological school of that 
abbey, where he was graduated, in June, 1876. 

He came to New York for ordination, and was the 
first on whom Archbishop McCloskey conferred any holy 
orders after he had been created a Cardinal. The Rev. 
Mr. Tonner received minor orders at liis hands in St. 



472 



CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 



Patrick's Catliedral, August 20, 1876 ; and was ordained 
priest by Bishop Louglilin in his cathedral, Brooklyn, 
on the 24th of the same month. 

He made his first exercise of the ministry in the 
parish of St. Mary Magdalen, where he was a curate, 
till his Eminence Cardinal McCloskey, in February, 
1877, confided to him the pastoral care of the flock 
gathered at Tremont, under the fostering protection of 
St. Joseph. 



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CHURCH OF SAINT LAWRENCE OTOOLE. 

EIGHTY-FOURTH STREET, NEAR FOURTH AVENUE, YORKVILLE. 



IN the year 1851, when Mount St. Vincent and the 
Convent of the Sacred Heart stood grandly ont in 
the northern part of the island like two bulwarks of 
Catholicity, the number of the faithful began to increase 
so that new churches were demanded — new centers to which 
the people might more readily turn — monuments, as it 
were, ever before their eyes, to remind them of what 
they were by baptism, and what they should be in 
deed and in practice. 

The Most Reverend Archbishop Hughes assigned to 
the Rev. E. J. O'Reilly all the district on the eastern part 
of the city, between St. Paul's, at Harlem, and the Church 
of St. John the Evangelist. The new pastor entered his 
parish with courage and hope, and, taking his stand about 
the center, looked around for a spot where the cross 
of Catholicity might glitter amid the clouds on the spire 
of a consecrated temple. He found a site adapted to 
his purpose on Eighty-fourth Street, between Fom-th and 
Fifth Avenues. It was soon pm'chased, and the little 



CHURCH OF ST. LAWRENCE O'TOOLE. 475 

congregation which he had provisionally gathered in a 
temporary chapel prepared to lay the corner-stone. 

On the 20th of October, 1851, the ground was 
cleared, the foundation of a new church laid, a cross 
planted where the altar was to stand, and all was in 
readiness for the ceremony. The Most Reverend Arch- 
bishop came in person to give dignity to the service. 
Catholics full of pious pride, others led by curiosity, 
came in a vast crowd to witness the sacred rite of the 
Catholic Church. After the usual ceremony and bless- 
ing of the stone, the Archbishop spoke of the solemnity 
of the prayers, music, and ceremonies of the Catholic 
Church. But, sublime as these were, he reminded his 
hearers that it was for another and higher piu-pose that 
churches are built. They are built on account of the 
altar that consecrates and gives them sanctity. They 
are built for that which is the essence and center of 
all divine worship — the offering of sacrifice. 

The Rev. Mr. O'Reilly continued in the parish until 
the following year, struggling to erect the church which 
was to be named in honor of the great St. Lawrence 
O'Toole. He was succeeded in his laborious undertaking 
by the Rev. Walter J. Quarter, a native of Killurine, 
Kings County, Ireland, a priest of experience, who had 
been Vicar General and Administrator of the Diocese of 
Chicago. Under his care the new brick church was rap- 
idly completed, and in the early summer of 1854 it was 



476 CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 

ready for the solemn rite whicli was to hallow the altar 
for the offering of the sacrifice. The solemn ceremony of 
dedication took place on the 11th of June in that year. 
The chm'ch was crowded with worshipers. It was esti- 
mated that there were eight hundi'ed in the pews and 
tlu'ee hundred in the galleries, showing that the new 
chapel would not lack a congregation. 

The ceremony of dedication was performed by the 
Very Rev. William Starrs, then Vicar General of the 
diocese. The holy prayer was said, and, with smoke of 
incense and aspersion of holy water, the church was 
blessed under the invocation of St. Lawrence O'Toole, 
the latest of the servants of Grod who have adorned the 
Irish church, in whose case the process of canonization 
was completed before England had made the faith of the 
saints the object of its persecution. This great saint, the 
son of a prince, was born near Dublin, and was in boy- 
hood a hostage in the hands of Dermot McMurrogh, by 
whom he was cruelly treated. When restored to his 
father, he showed a longing to renounce the world, and 
entered the Abbey of Glendalough, of which he became 
abbot at the age of twenty-five, so impressed were the 
monks with his virtues and ability. Five years afterwards 
he was chosen Bishop of Dublin. Here liis sanctity was 
conspicuous. He beheld his episcopal city ravaged by 
Strongbow, and the English attempt to overtlirow tlie 
national existence of his country. He himself was nearly 



CHUECH OF ST. LAWRENCE O'TOOLE. 477 

killed in England. He attended the Third Council of the 
Lateran and was made Legate of the Pope in Ireland. 
Having gone to Normandy to prevent Henry II. from 
making war upon Roderic, the last of the Irish kings, 
he died at the monastery of Eu, November 14th, 1180. 

A miracle was wrought by a relic of this saint, on 
the coast of Maine, in 1613, so that devotion to him 
may be said to have preceded all om- churches. 

When the church bearing his name was at last 
dedicated, the Very Rev. Mr. Starrs offered up a Sol- 
emn High Mass, with the Rev. Isidore Daubresse, S.J., 
as deacon, and the Rev. Mr. Brady as subdeacon. Be- 
sides these there were present the Rev. Walter Quarter, 
the pastor, the Rev. James McMahon, of the Church of 
St. John the Evangelist, and several seminarians. 

After the gospel, the Most Reverend Archbishop 
Hughes preached, taking as his text Apoc. xxi. 1-3 : 
"And I saw a new heaven and a new earth. For the 
first heaven and the first earth was gone and the sea is 
now no more. And I John saw the holy city, the new 
Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven, from Grod, pre- 
pared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard 
a great voice from the throne saying : Behold the tab- 
ernacle of God with men, and he will dwell with them, 
and they shall be his people ; and God himself with 
them shall be their God." 

The reverend pastor almost immediately Instituted 



478 



OATHOLIO CIIUROllES OF NEW YORK. 



parochial and Sunday schools, placing the girls under 
the care of the Sisters of Charity. 

He remained in charge of the parish till his death, 
in the month of December, 1863. The Rev. Samuel 
Mulledy, who had for a short time been assistant, became 
pastor. He was assisted by the Rev. J. Coyle and the 
Rev. J. Hasson; but in 1866, the Most Reverend Arch- 
bishop McCloskey requested the Fathers of the Society 
of Jesus to assume the care of the parish. The Rev. 
Fathers Marechal, John McQuaid, Hector Glackmeyer, 
William Moylan, William Gockeln, Joseph Shea, Florentin 
Achard, and the present incumbent, the Rev. Jolm A. 
Treanor, have since that time been pastors, assisted by 
several Fathers of their Society. 

The schools have increased. Besides the jDarish schools, 
taught by the Sisters of Charity and lay teachers, with 
tlu'ee hundred and nineteen boys and four hundi'ed and 
thirty-nine girls, there is a fine select school, St. LaAv- 
rence's Academy, conducted by the same Sisters, afford- 
ing a higher and more cultivated -course. This institu- 
tion has eighty-seven pupils. There is also a classical 
academy for boys, under a lay teacher. 



CHURCH OF ST. LAWRENCE O'TOOLE. 479 



REV. FATHER JOHN A. TREANOR, S.J., 

PASTOE OF THE CHUECH OF ST. LAWEENCE O'TOOLE. 



THE career of a secular priest, and of one who, 
as a member of a religious order, belongs to the 
regular clergy, differ. The former is appointed to a 
parish, and where the canon law is established, it becomes 
his field of labor for life. He regards it as a sphere in 
which his talents, his ability, his zeal, are to be devoted 
for the good of his flock; and a separation as possible 
only by his own will, or by a failure to meet the 
requirements of the liigh responsibilities imposed upon him. 

It is not so with a regular priest — that is, a priest 
bound by a rule. Each order has its own special object, 
to which its members are devoted, and parochial duty 
comes onl}^ incidentally. As priests, they have every 
requisite, and are often indeed called upon by the Right 
Reverend Bishops to assume the position of pastors of 
churches, for which severe study, great experience in the 
direction of souls, and austerity of life fit them ; but it 
is not usual for a regular priest to remain attached to a 
parish for a long series of years, and see a generation 
grow up under his care. 

The Church of St. Lawrence is now under the 



480 



CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 



pastoral care of the Rev. Father John A. Treanor of the 
Society of Jesus. This clergyman was born in New York, 
on the 5th of December, 1838, and was the first student 
who entered the College of St. Francis Xavier, in Fif- 
teenth Street, and the first boy who served mass in the 
chm-ch. After his studies here he renounced the world 
and its allurements to enter the Society of Jesus, on the 
31st day of August, 1855. 

After his novitiate he was employed in teaching at 
St. John's College, and. then pursued the philosophical 
and theological course as a preparation for the holy order 
of priesthood. He was ordained on the 29th of June in 
the year 1872, and was in that and the following year 
at Frederick, Maryland. 

In 1873, he was appointed by the Superior of the 
Mission in New York and Canada, under whose authority 
he is, to the responsible position of vice-president of 
St. John's College, Fordham, and then transferred to the 
same position in the College of St. Francis Xavier, Fif- 
teenth Street, New York, where he remained for two years. 

Thence he was sent as vice-j^resident to St. John's 
College, Fordham, and at the end of the year was ap- 
pointed pastor of the Chm-ch of St. Lawrence. 

Like many of the Fathers in the establislnnents of 
his order, his duty has not been merely parochial. He 
has frequently given retreats in various rehgious commu- 
nities to the members, and to those under their charge; 



CHUECH or ST. LAWRENCE O'TOOLE. 



481 



and lie has given missions in cliurclies in various parts, 
impressing all with his earnestness, his zeal, and his 
deshe to win souls to virtue, and to warn them against 
the snares and devices that are laid for the ruin of the 
innocent. 



Roll of Honor. 



Barrett, Micliacl. 


Gannon, James. 


Mullan, John. 


Earth, Adelaide. 


Ga)Tior, John. 


Mulligan, Nicholas. 


Bigley, Peter. 


Gearty, Thomas. 


Murphy, Owen. 


Brady, John. 


Geritzen, Herman. 


Murphy, Patrick. 


Brenan, Daniel. 


Godfrey, John. 


Nast, Albert A., Mrs. 


Brown, James F. 


Gonoude, James. 


Newman, William H. 


Bryan, Mary, Mrs. 


Gorman, John. 


O'Connor, Edward J. 


Bullman, John. 


Graham, Michael. 


O'Donnell, Bernard. 


Buscall, Charles F. 


Greaney, William. 


O'Neill, John. 


Byrne, Denis J. 


Griffin, Dennis W. 


O'Sullivan, Jeremiah M. 


Carr, John. 


Hughes, Thomas. 


Pertel, Edward. 


Casey, James. 


Johnson, William E. 


Pettit, Bernard. 


Connery, Thomas B. 


Jones, Charles. 


Phelan, John. 


Connors, William. 


Keleher, Patrick. 


Power, William F., Mrs. 


Corbett, Peter. 


Kiernan, Terence. 


Reed, Charles C. 


Corson, Thomas. 


Larney, Catharine, Mrs. 


Regan, Timothy. 


Creeden, John. 


Long, Patrick. 


Reilly, Arthur. 


Curry, Edmond J. 


Loonam, Charles. 


ReiUy, P. W. 


Crowley, James. 


Lynch, James. 


Reynolds, Patrick. 


Cruise, William. 


Lynch, Mary Teresa. 


Riley, L. 


Dennis, James L. 


Lynch, Patrick. 


Ritter, Anton. 


Donohue, Patrick. 


McCabe, Thomas. 


Roach, Richard. 


Donohue, Thomas. 


McCarrin, Maria F. 


Roby, Catharine E., Mrs. 


Donovan, John J. 


McCarthy, John D. 


Russell, William. 


Doran, John. 


McCarthy, Wilham H. 


Ryan, Michael. 


Douglas, John A., Mrs. 


McConnellogue, Hugh K. 


Ryan, Thomas. 


Dowling, John C. 


McCormick, P. 


Scallon, James J. 


Dufly, Ann E. 


McDonald, Patrick. 


Sheehan, Michael. 


Dufify, James. 


McDonald, William E. 


Sheehy, Patrick. 


Dwyer, Mary Ann, Mrs. 


McDonnell, J. 


Shields, Daniel. 


Erhet, George, Mrs. 


McGinness, Peter. 


Slattery, Patrick. 


Falvey, John. 


McGinnis, Hugh. 


Spillane, Maurice. 


Falvey, Thomas. 


McGrath, Michael. 


Sullivan, John. 


Fanning, Patrick. 


McGuire, Thomas. 


SuUivan, William W. 


Farley, John. 


McLaughlin, John. 


TuUy, John T. 


Farrell, John. 


McManus, William. 


Twomey, John F. 


Farrish, James A. 


McManus, William F. 


Wall, Patrick J. 


Finn, Patrick. 


McManus, William J. 


Wallace, David. 


Fitzpatrick, Jeremiah. 


McPhillips, William. 


Walsh, Augustine. 


Foley, M. W. 


McQuade, Anna. 


Warren, Peter. 


Ford, Dennis. 


McQuade, John J. 


Wilson, Susan, Mrs. 


Gallagher, James W. 


Martin, Michael. 


Woods, Bernard. 


Gallagher, Thomas. 


Meaney, Patrick H. 


Wynne, John. 


31 


Morris, James. 


• 




OHUKCH OF SAINT MARY. 

GRAND STREET. 



CHURCH OF SAINT MARY. 

GEAND STKEET. 



FROM the first gathering of the faithful, after the 
Revolution had given Catholics nearly equal rights 
with their fellow-citizens, there had been a steady increase 
in the body. St. Peter's was long the parish church, not 
only for the island, but for Brooklyn and New Jersey. 
Then came St. Patrick's Cathedral, more centrally situated, 
and affording advantages to many in what was the new 
and growing part of New York. The Rutgers and De- 
lancey farms, east of the Bowery, were built up during 
the first quarter of the present century, and among those 
who here secured homes for themselves were many Catho- 
lics, who at last felt that they were able to erect a 
church and maintain a pastor. They were emboldened to 
this by the fact that the two churches were already 
filled to overflowing at the masses of obligation. 

The venerable Bishop Connolly had recently closed 
his pious career, and the diocese was administered by 
the Very Rev. John Power. With his permission and 
approval, a new district and congregation were organized, 
and some of the leading members looked for a suitable 
place for their intended church. Strange rumors of a 



484 



CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 



kind of scliism among the Catholics spread. It was 
scarcely believed that they needed a new church. It was 
a period of great commercial embaiTassment and distress, 
and some of the Protestant clnu'ches felt the influence. 
The Seventh Presbyterian congregation, under the Pev. 
E. W. Baldwin, found it necessary to sell their chm-ch 
in Sheriff Street. This seemed to the new Catholic con- 
gregation well adapted to their pui'poses, and it was 
accordingly purchased, in April, 1826, for seven thousand 
three hundred dollars. It was a small frame edifice, forty- 
five feet in front and sixty in depth, with a brick front, 
and a neat steeple in which hung a very large bell. It 
was the first Catholic bell in New, York ; for, apparently 
from the force of habit, chapels in Ireland being at the 
time prohibited from using bells, and Catholics having 
become accustomed to do without them, none were at- 
tached to St. Peter's or St. Patrick's. 

The Very Reverend Administrator assigned to the 
church the Rev. Mr. McGilligan, who said mass in the 
new building from the first of May, when possession 
was obtained till its formal opening. 

On Sunday, the 14th day of May, 1826, the church 
was formally opened by the Rev. Hatton Walsh of the 
Order of St. Augustine, who delivered a sermon on the 
occasion, which was printed for the benefit of the church, 
in a pamphlet of twenty pages. 

''It is a fact well known to many who now listen 



CHURCH OF ST. MAEY. 485 

to me," said the sacred orator, " that at no far distant 
period a single church was amply sufficient to contain 
the Catholics of this vast commercial city ; and when it 
was deemed expedient to erect a sumptuous cathedral in 
honor of the Most High, it was more than the warmest 
friend of Catholicity could then expect, that its spacious 
aisles should be filled with the followers of the ancient 
faith. But so diligently has the vineyard of the Lord 
been cultivated, and so fruitfully has it flourished, that 
in order to afford an opportunity to every one of assist- 
ing at the sacred mysteries of our religion, it has been 
considered necessary to procure for their accommodation 
this additional temple, in which I have the happiness to 
address you on this day. And here, my brethren, it 
may not be superfluous to observe that the reports 
which were industriously circulated concerning the inde- 
pendence of this church were ungenerous and unfounded; 
and, originating as they did in contemptible malice or 
consummate ignorance, must long since have been dis- 
carded from the breast of every upright Catholic. But 
lest there should remain the slightest uncertainty in the 
minds of our dissenting bretlu-en — lest we should seem 
to depart from that unity which is the distinctive char- 
acter of the fold of Jesus Christ — I take this public and 
solemn opportunity of declaring that nothing has been 
attempted in this affair without the warm sanction and 
support of the respected Vicar General of this diocese." 



486 



CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 



The name assumed by the new church was St. 
Mary's, but it was not formally blessed. When, however, 
New York was gladdened towards the close of that 
year by the arrival of a bishop, the Rt. R,ev. Dr. Du 
Bois, that prelate proceeded, on the great feast of the 
Annunciation, March 25th, 1827, to dedicate the church 
to the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God. It was the 
first church in the city dedicated by a bishop of the 
see. The concourse was very large; the ceremony, 
which had not been seen on the island for many years, 
attracted great attention, and the clergy, in what for 
the times were imposing numbers, gave dignity to the 
rite. 

The congregation was not very large or wealthy, 
but they were prospering, and the church with them. 
The first trustees were Messrs. Garret Byrne, Patrick 
Sullivan, Andrew Fallon, Lackey Reynolds, Charles Coles, 
Francis Hanratty, Peter Smith, Edward Flanagan, and 
John Kent. 

The Rev. Hatton Walsh, the first priest of St. Mary's, 
remained the pastor about three years, assisted by the 
Rev. Timothy McGuire. He was succeeded by the Rev. 
Luke Berry, in whose time a school was opened in the 
basement of St. Mary's, which, in time, gave priests and 
a bishop to the church. 

The first St. Mary's was not, however, long enjoyed 
by the Catholics. On the 9th of November, 1831, a 



CHURCH OF ST. MARY. 



487 



burglar entered the sacred edifice, and, either influenced 
by hatred or incensed at his failure to find what he 
expected, he set fire to the building. Before anything 
could be done to check the flames, or the records, 
sacred vessels, and vestments could be saved, St. Mary's 
was a mass of fire, and nothing was rescued from the 
ruins except an iron safe, still in use. 

This misfortune, with some previous troubles, broke 
the heart of the pastor, who died on the 7 th of De- 
cember. 

The Rev. Timothy McGruire, on whom the chief 
burden now fell, at once secured a lease of a small 
wooden building on Grand Street, between Pitt and 
Willett, which had been erected in 1824 by the Epis- 
copalians, as the Church of All Saints. This was pre- 
pared for divine service, and was the second St. Mary's, 
until the new church was so far advanced as to afibrd 
accommodation to the congregation. 

The trustees, after the destruction of the old church, 
decided, with the advice of the Right Reverend Bishop 
Du Bois, not to rebuild on that site, but to dispose of 
it and purchase a more eligible spot. Three lots of 
ground, with a fi'ont of seventy-three feet nine inches 
on Grand Street, and running back a hundred feet on 
Ridge Street, were bought from Steplien Allen for nine 
thousand dollars, on the 25th of November, 1831, and 
on this the new church was begun in the following 



488 



CATPIOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 



January, altliougli the congregation was almost without 
resources. 

A lot adjoining on Ridge Street was acquired by 
Bishoj) Du Bois for a parochial residence, and by him 
conveyed to St. Mary's. 

The comer-stone was laid on Monday, April 30, 
1832, by the Right Reverend Dr. Du Bois, with a num- 
ber of clergymen. The building was prosecuted with 
spirit, and though the city was visited during the sum- 
mer by that terrible scourge, the cholera, which then for 
the first time dealt death tln-oughout the city, St. Mary's 
continued to rise. The ravages of the cholera in St. 
Mary's parish were terrible, and the devoted pastor was 
unremitting in his attendance to enable all to make their 
peace with God through the sacraments, during the short 
period the disease left the unhappy victims for prepara- 
tion. How severe was the duty of the priest in those 
days may be imagined, when the writer can state that 
from one house in that parish he saw five cofiins 
carried out in a single morning. On the 28th of De- 
cember, mass was offered for the first time in a tempo- 
rary chapel in the basement of the new chui'ch. The 
structure which they had hired, with its unexpired lease 
of about three years, was then sold at auction. 

Proposals were then issued for completing the church, 
and, as the congregation were anxious to enjoy to the full 
the benefit of a suitable place, it was soon completed. 



CHURCH OF ST. MARY. 489 

The solemn dedication took place June 9tli, 1833, the Rt. 
Rev. Bishop Du Bois officiating on the occasion. After the 
ceremony of the dedication, Avhich was perfonned most im- 
pressively, and was witnessed by a densely crowded church, 
including many Protestants of distinction, the Right Rev- 
erend Bishop celebrated a Pontifical High Mass. The music 
was fine, being Haydn's First Mass, rendered extremely 
well by the organist and choir. The dedication sermon 
was preached by the Very Rev. John Power, V.G., and 
is recorded as being one of the "most lucid and instruc- 
tive of his discourses, replete with every argument which 
profound reading and theological research could supply.'' 

At the conclusion of the mass, the Right Reverend 
Bishop congratulated the congregation on what had been 
accomplished, and announced that he had committed the 
pastoral charge of St. Mary's Church to the Rev. William 
Quarter, a young and energetic priest. 

The new pastor went zealously to work, assisted by 
Rev. Mr. McGruire, who still remained. The parish num- 
bered already many thriving and prosperous business men, 
increasing in wealth as contractors or dealers ; nearly all 
of solid and unpretentious character, whose liberality was 
soon evinced in the contributions for charity and religion. 
The first appeal for the orphans had been made in the 
old church by the Rev. Mr. Walsh, and for years, in the 
annual collections for the Asylum, St. Mary's stood at 
the head of the list, or very near it. 



490 



CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 



The sacrament of confirmation was conferred for the 
first time in the parish, on the Wliitsunday after the 
dedication, by the Eight Reverend Bishop Dii Bois. 

The estahhshment of schools was one of the first ob- 
jects of the attention of Mr. Quarter. The Sisters of Char- 
ity, at his appeal, began their noble work in the parish 
in September, 1833, the reverend pastor having introduced 
them almost against the advice of the trustees, and even 
of the bishop, who thought that the project could not 
possibly succeed. But Rev. Mr. Quarter relied on his own 
energy. Three Sisters came ; they took control of the 
parochial school in the basement of the church, and in 
May, 1835, opened St. Mary's Academy, in the house No. 
447 Grand Street — an institution since transferred to East 
Broadway, and for many years the highest Catholic school 
for young ladies in the city. 

The Rev. Mr. Quarter remained pastor of St. Mary's 
till his appointment as Bishop of Chicago, in 1844, and 
during his pastorship was assisted by the Rev. Mr. 
O'Beirne ; Rev. J. D. Teixcheira, a worthy Portuguese 
priest, who for twenty-five years labored zealously in the 
parish ; Rev. James Dougherty ; Rev. Walter Quarter, who 
subsequently founded the Church of St. Lawrence ; the 
Rev. Mark Murphy, a fine scholar, well read in Greek 
literature and mathematics, who died at Staten Island, a 
victim of charity during the ravages of the ship fever. 

About 1840, galleries were put up on each side of 



CHUECH OF ST. MARY. 49 1 

the organ, for the use of the school children, and a steeple 
reared above the church in, 1842. 

During this period a Rosary Society was canonically 
instituted, on the 25th of March, 1837, although a few 
pious persons among the laity had from an early period 
formed a sort of association for saying the rosary to- 
gether, La^vl'ence Hannan being regarded as the founder 
of the devotion. A Confraternity of the Sacred Heart 
of Jesus was also instituted on the 26th of June, 1840. 
In regard to these the Eev. Mr. Quarter himself wrote: — 

"The pastor of St. Mary's Church, anxious for the 
spiritual advancement of the congregation committed to 
his charge, thought it advisable, as soon as convenient, 
to establish confraternities and pious sodalities of the 
rosary and the scapular. When the members of the con- 
gregation are attached to some religious society or con- 
fraternity, they are more likely to attend to their relig- 
ious obligations. They find occupation in prayer on 
Sundays and festivals and other leisure hours, whereas, 
if they were not attached to such societies, much of their 
time might be wasted in vice and dissipation, in slander 
and calumny, especially on those days when their worldly 
occupations do not claim their attention, and when, for- 
getting that the greater part of these days should be 
spent in the service of God, they seem to think they 
can idle them away or spend them in frivolous amuse- 
ments or in sin. The poor especially experience much 



492 



CATHOLIC CHUrtCHES OF NEW YORK. 



consolation in attaching- themselves to any pious sodality 
or confraternity ; while the rich seldom attach themselves 
to these associations. The least sacrifice of ease or pleas- 
ure seems too much for them, and hence it is that their 
souls grow cold in devotion; the sacraments even, that the 
Church commands them to approach at least once a year, 
they neglect, and they seem to disregard the penalties 
due their non-compliance, 

"What a contrast the rich, who do not, and the poor 
who do attach themselves to these sodalities, present in 
the church on Sunday ! In the morning early the poor 
are devoutly there preparing to feed their souls on the 
rich banquet of the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ. The 
rich have not as yet raised their heads from off their soft 
pillows. At the last mass the poor are there, fasting up 
to the hour of midday, and then too happy if they be 
permitted to approach the table of their Lord. They 
press through the dense mass of people, and prostrate 
themselves before the altar, their souls filled with devo- 
tion and inflamed with divine love. The rich sit in 
their pews, and look coldly and indifferently on them, 
and appear like strangers in the house of their Lord and 
Master — they have no regard for the spiritual favors and 
heavenly blessings, gifts, and graces which God would 
bestow on them were they faithful. 

"At vespers the poor are again in the house of G-od. 
The seats of the rich are empty. The psalm of praise 



CHURCH OF ST. MARY. 493 

and canticle of joy is being- sung. The rich join not in 
the chorus ; the sacred melody has no charm for their 
ears ; and they sit, if there at all, gazing* idly or per- 
haps ridiculing those simple, pious souls that are en- 
gaged in the praise of their God. Not now even are 
the poor tired of their devotions. Again they assemble 
in the evening, to close the day with prayer, to read 
pious books, and to recite the rosary. Thus it is that 
the members of the several religious societies now es- 
tablished at St. Mary's spend the Sunday." 

His influence, and that of these religious associations, 
in a short time made his words almost inapplicable to 
his own parish, in which the regularity, the frequentation 
of the sacraments, and the correct lives, showed how 
much had been effected by his zeal. 

While his flock was thus making solid progress in 
the paths of Ckristian piety, St. Mary's became in a 
manner the cradle of the many Catholic churches in 
our city. 

In April, 1835, the Grerman Catholics, who desired 
to organize a congregation for themselves, obtained the 
use of the basement of St. Mary's on Sunday mornings 
and formed a little congregation which, in a short time, 
founded the Church of St. Nicholas, in Second Street. 
Nor was this the only connection of St. Mary's with 
the German Catholic body. On the second Sunday in 
the Lent of 1840, the reverend pastor read from his 



494 CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 

pailpit the reasons wMcli had induced John James Maxi- 
mihan Oertel, a Lutheran minister, who had endured exile 
rather than renounce what he deemed the purity of his 
rehgious behef, to abjure the heresy entirely, and seek 
peace and truth in the bosom of the Catholic Church. 
He had that morning been received into the Chm-ch, and 
made his profession of faith at the' altar of St. Mary's. 
He then devoted his talents to the diffusion of truth, 
and has ever since ably edited a German Catholic paper. 

St. Mary's was highly lionored when, in 1844, the 
Holy See selected its pastor for a position in the hier- 
archy, although it greatly regretted his loss. He was 
succeeded by the Rev. William Starrs, who opened his 
administration by introducing, in May, 1844, the devo- 
tion of the Month of Mary. Drawing the ladies of the 
congregation around him, he established the Ladies' Altar 
Society, and in 1849 the Ladies' Benevolent Society, 
which in twelve years distributed nearly fifteen thousand 
dollars among the poor. He was earnest also in the 
cause of temperance, where the attempt at moral reform- 
ation was based on the graces bestowed by God tlu'ough 
the sacraments. St. Mary's Temperance Society was 
founded by him in 1850, and on the 21st of October 
in the following year the great apostle of temperance, 
Father Theobald Matthew, gave the pledge in St. Mary's 
to a very great number of persons in the congregation. 

The Rev. Mr. Starrs erected a new residence for the 



CHUKCH OF ST. MARY. 495 

clergy of the parish; developed the schools, placing the 
boys under the Brothers of the Cln-istian Schools ; and 
aiding the Sisters of Charity to establish their new house 
on East Broadway. Seeing the great good done by the 
missions, he invited the Redemptorist Fathers to his par- 
ish, and the mission given by them in St. Mary's, in 
October, 1853, one of the first in the city, was attended 
by immense crowds, and produced most salutary effects. 

The Rev. Mr. Starrs was soon after transferred to 
the Cathedral, having been assisted during his stay at 
St. Mary's by the Rev. James McMahon, now pastor of 
St. John the Evangelist. Of the Rev. Mr. Starrs it was 
said: "He displayed prudence, charity, zeal, and patience. 
He won the approbation of his superiors, and secured the 
confidence which they reposed in him. All knew that in 
the discharge of his ofiicial functions he displayed all the 
virtues, and in an uncommon degree. One thing was 
the foundation of all the rest — loyalty to his ecclesiasti- 
cal superiors. He never swerved in the least degree 
from what he owed to his bishop." 

He was an able administrator of temporal affairs, 
and besides laying out large sums in improvements, re- 
duced the debt, which the Rev. Mr. Quarter had brought 
down to sixteen thousand dollars, to four thousand. 

The Rev. Thomas Farrell, now of St. Joseph's Church, 
was pastor of St. Mary's from 1855 to 1857, assisted by 
Rev. Messrs. McMahon, Carroll, and Egan. His energj^ 



496 CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 

was directed to the erection of a suitable scliool-liouse 
for the purposes of the parish, and he was gratified by 
tlie success of his efforts. A substantial edifice in Pitt 
Street was opened in 1855, under the charge of the 
Clmstian Brothers and the Sisters of Charity. 

The Society of the Living Rosary — the new form 
which has tended so much to keep alive the old devo- 
tion to Our Lady — was also established in St. Mary's, by 
the Rev. Mr. Farrell, October 1, 1854. 

The next pastor of the church was the Very Rev. 
Archdeacon McCarron, who came, in 1857, to pass the 
remaining years of his life in the sanctuary of the Mother 
of God. 

With the vast increase of the Catholic population in 
New York City, St. Mary's parish, including from the 
East River to Pike and Allen Streets on the west, and 
Stanton Street on the north, had become densely settled 
with families who thi'onged the aisles of the old clim'ch 
on Sundays. The number of masses was increased to 
five, but the relief afforded was only temporary. 

The schools were similarly overcrowded, and as the 
Rutgers Female Institute, a fine building on Madison 
Street, erected some years before under the patronage of 
the Crosby family, was for sale, the fashionable upper 
parts of the city offering greater attractions for a young 
ladies' academy of that character, it was pm'chased for 
twenty-five thousand dollars, and opened in September, 



CHUHOH OF ST. MARY. 497 

1860, as " St. Mary's Female Institute." It was admira- 
bly adapted for the parochial school for girls, having 
been erected for educational purposes, carefully planned 
and well arranged, with every endeavor to give abun- 
dance of light and ventilation. When the school for 
g-irls was established here, the Pitt Street school was 
occupied entirely by that for the boys of the parish. 

The very reverend pastor was assisted by the Rev. 
Peter McCarron, Rev. James Boyce, Rev. P. Farrell, Rev. 
M. McKenna, and Rev. John Donnelly. 

Owing to the infirm health of the pastor, much de- 
volved on the active and zealous Rev. Mr. Boyce, who 
extended the pastoral residence in 1861, and, becoming 
convinced that a division of the parish had become an ab- 
solute necessity, purchased, with the approval of the Most 
Reverend Archbishop, a church on Rutgers Street, a sub- 
stantial edifice erected by the Presbyterians, who had 
worshiped on thg,t site since 1797, but now beheld their 
congregation dwindled away. 

This edifice was placed under the patronage of the 
holy Carmelite, St. Teresa, and the parish of St. Mary's 
was divided. 

The old church was remodeled by the Rev. Mr. 

Farrell in 1864, the congregation desiring to modernize 

their now venerable sanctuary. The front was entirely 

changed, and the towers added; the interior handsomely 

painted in fresco ; a new and beautiful organ erected ; 
32 



498 



CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 



and on Christmas morning, 1864, a new fine bell, weigh- 
ing fifteen hundred pounds, summoned the Cathohcs to 
the restored shrine of Our Lady. 

As it was evident that the ground occupied by the 
parochial residence would soon be required by the chui'ch, 
a new residence for the clergy was purchased on At- 
torney Street, through the exertions of the Rev, Mr. 
McKenna. 

The venerable Archdeacon McCarron died February 
23d, 1867, piously closing a long life devoted to the 
service of the altar. His obsequies draped the church in 
mourning, and a hundred and fifty priests gathered to 
honor his memory. The Very Rev. William Starrs came 
to his old church to sing the requiem, and the Most 
Reverend Archbishop preached the funeral oration. 

The Rev. McKenna had already planned a further 
division of the old parish, and, with the approval of the 
Most Reverend Archbishop, was engageji in erecting a 
church in honor of the patron of America, St. Rose of 
Lima. St. Mary's was thus deprived of a large part of the 
district in which she had so long ministered to the peo- 
ple of God the bread of life, her spiritual children, St. 
Teresa and St. Rose, virgin followers of the Queen of 
Virgins, coming to share her labors, her trials, and her 
consolations. 

In May, 1867, the Most Reverend Archbishop Mc- 
Closkey appointed as pastor of St. Mary's the present in- 



CHURCH OF ST. MARY. 499 

cumbent, the Rev. Edward J. O'Eeilly. As we have 
seen, he came to the church to find its parish much di- 
minished. It is now bounded by the East River, CHnton, 
Grand, Norfolk, Stanton, Sheriff, Grand, and Jackson 
Streets. 

The new pastor set to work to reorganize and sys- 
tematize the affairs of St. Mary's, and to make the church 
all that the parish could for many years require. A new 
charter was obtained, by reorganizing under the law of 
1863, and the ancient corporation conveyed to the new 
body the property of the parish. The corporators are 
the Most Reverend Archbishop, the reverend pastor, and 
two gentlemen of the congregation. 

The enlargement of the church was then decided 
upon. The property long owned on Grand Street was sold 
'and another lot purchased on Ridge Street, this with that 
occupied by the pastoral residence enabling them to 
make the church a hundred and fifty feet in depth. The 
work was commenced in July, 1870, and completed early 
in the following year. 

On the 26th of February, 1871, St. Mary's Church, 
as restored and enlarged, was dedicated anew to the 
service of God by his Grace the Most Reverend Arch- 
bishop McCloskey. In the High Mass which followed 
the consoling ceremony, and in which the finest ecclesias- 
tical music and the most chaste and appropriate adorn- 
ment combined to heighten the solemnity of the ritual, 



500 



CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 



a sermon full of eloquence incentive to devotion was 
delivered by the Very Eev. Thomas S. Preston, V.Gr. 
In the evening at the vesper service, which closed 
the day of benediction, the Right Reverend John Lough- 
Hn, D.D., Bishop of Brooklyn, preached. 

A new residence for the clergy was soon after com- 
pleted, and St. Mary's was fully adapted in every i-e- 
spect for a new career of usefulness, just as she closed 
the first half century of her existence. The cost of the 
recent improvements had been ninety-three thousand dol- 
lars ; but the church with the vestry now covers five 
lots of land, the schools and parochial residence are 
amply adapted to the wants of the parish, and the debt 
is comparatively small. 

It is to be hoped that the faithful will Hberally 
sustain this venerable sanctuary, which has not only 
given rise, as we have seen, to two other parish churches, 
but has within its limits the German Church of Our 
Lady of Sorrows and the Polish Church of St. Stanislaus. 

On Sunday, May 14th, 1876, St. Mary's celebrated 
its semi-centennial anniversary, on which occasion the 
sermon preached fifty years before by the Rev. Hatton 
Welsh was reprinted, with historical and traditionary notes 
from the pen of Wm. Dougherty, Esq., which have made 
the task of the annalist an easy one. He was one of 
the oldest members, and had witnessed as a boy the 
opening of the first church. 



CHURCH OF ST. MARY. 501 

To those who formed the congregation of 1876, as 
well as to many who, removing to other parts of the 
city, had been unable to continue as constant worship- 
ers before the first New York altar of Our Lady, the 
day was one of especial joy. The celebration was one 
of a character of which there had been few instances 
in the city. The church was finely decorated, the 
altar resplendent with rich laces, drapery, floral offer- 
ings, and lights. A Solemn High Mass was offered, with 
the Rev. H. P. Baxter as celebrant, and the Rev. Messrs. 
Rigney and Gleason as deacon and subdeacon. The rev- 
erend pastor preached, dwelling of course on the history 
of the church in which he stood, but enlarging on the 
perpetuity and unerring character of the Catholic Church, 
the depositary of God's truth among men, beyond whose 
circle of light all is darkness, lit up only by the evanes- 
cent and phantom-like gleams of opinion — lights that do 
not lead to safety, but lure men to doom. 

The vesper service was as densely attended, and a 
sermon from the eloquent Very Rev. Thomas S. Preston 
closed the ceremonies of this consoling day. 

Besides the religious associations already mentioned, was 
one not inactive on this day. It was the St. Mary's Library 
Association, founded, in November, 1872, by the Rev. Mr. 
McEvoy. It is an incorporated body, in a flourishing con- 
dition, occupying an elegant house, No. 235 East Broad- 
way, and has already shown its ability for great good. 



602 



CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 



The scliools are in a high state of efficiency and 
prosperity. The Chi'istian Brothers, in the Pitt Street 
school, have six hundred boys under their care; and the 
Sisters of Charity, in Madison Street, direct seven hun- 
dred and fifty girls. Music and drawing teachers attend 
both schools. These institutions are supported mainly by 
a ten-cent collection taken up by a regular organization 
ramifying through the whole parish. 

The historian of the parish says with honest pride : 
" The number of religious male and female, who were 
of St. Mary's children, it would be now impossible to 
determine. Sisters and clostered nuns, who sought their 
vocation before St. Mary's altar, may be found through- 
out the length and breadth of the land. Priests are nu- 
merous and pastors not few who were among St. Mary's 
boys, as was also the Rt. Rev. Prelate, Bishop McNeir- 
ny." ..." The best authorities among us estimate the 
number of religious who found their vocation in old St. 
Mary's as fully three hundred." 

The Rev. E. J. O'Reilly has been assisted by the 
Rev. Messrs. Thomas P. Neade, who died in September, 
1873 ; John Drumgoole, since laboring in a special work 
among homeless boys; Michael B. McEvoy, and H. P. 
Baxter. The present curates are the Rev. Patrick S. 
Rigney, the Rev. John Gleason, and the Rev. Michael 
J. Quinn. 

Since its organization there have been fully forty 



CHURCH OF ST. MART. 



503 



thousand baptisms in this church. Even with the parish 

circumscribed and reduced, and other churches within 

its Hmits where the sacrament is administered, the annual 
baptisms exceed five hundred. 



Roll of Honor. 



Adamson, Edward. 
Barrett, John C. 
Barrett, Patrick. 
Bateson, James. 
Battle, Sarah. 
Beattie, Jonathan. 
Blake, Charles P. 
Bliel, Ann, Mrs. 
Boyle, Mary Ann, Mrs. 
Brady, Nicholas. 
Browne, Thomas. 
Burns, Denis. 
Burns, John. 
Butler, Michael. 
Byrne, Daniel. 
Callan, Mary. 
Callanan, James. 
Cantwell, John. 
Canty, John. 
Carberry, Michael. 
Carr, Margaret, Mrs. 
Carroll, Mary, Mrs. 
Carroll, Thomas C. 
Casey, Dominick. 
Caulfield, Ann, Mrs. 
Clare, Patrick. 
Clarke, Matthew. 
Cleary, Mary, Mrs. 
Cluff, Thomas. 
Coffey, Francis. 
Collins, Cornelius. 
Collins, Michael. 
Condon, James. 
Conlan, Anne. 
Connell, Margaret A. 



Connell, Mary, Mrs. 
Conroy, Thomas. 
Cook, Thomas. 
Cooley, William, Mrs. 
Coss, Bridget. 
Coster, Henry. 
Coyle, John. 
Crawley, Henry. 
Cregan, C, Mrs. 
Cromien, Lawrence. 
Crowley, John. 
Crowley, Patrick. 
Culhane, John. 
Cummings, Thomas. 
Cunnion, Patrick. 
Curran, James. 
Cushing, Martin J. 
Daly, Peter. 
Desmond, Patrick. 
Devinney, Michael, Mrs. 
Dillon, Timothy. 
Donegan, Roger. 
Dolan, Robert. 
Donohoe, Jeffrey. 
Donovan, John. 
Donovan, Patrick. 
Doorley, Etty. 
Doran, E., Mrs. 
Doran, Michael. 
Douherty, Edmond. 
Dougherty, William. 
Dowling, Martin. 
Driscoll, Catharine, Mrs. 
Duffey, Bernard. 
Duffey, Peter. 



Duffy, James. 
Dunn, Thomas. 
Dwyer, Patrick J. 
Dwyer, Timothy. 
Ennis, Rosie A. 
Fagan, Bridget, Mrs. 
Farrell, Catharine J., Mrs. 
Farrell, James. 
Farrell, Thomas. 
Finley, John. 
Finton, Thomas. 
Fitzgerald, John. 
Fitzgerald, Michael. 
Fitzhenry, Mary, Mrs. 
Fitzpatrick, John. 
Fitzpatrick, Patrick. 
Flanagan, Bernard. 
Fleming, Daniel. 
Foley, Mary A. , Mrs. 
Follis, Dominick. 
Fox, Patrick J. 
Gaffney, E., Mrs. 
Galvin, John. 
Galway, Nicholas. 
Geoghagan, Michael. 
Goodwin, Mary, Mrs. 
Gonzalez, John. 
Haffay, Cornelius. 
Haffey, John. 
Hanly, Thomas. 
Hart, Cornelius. 
Hart, John. 
Hayes, John. 
Hayes, Richard. 
Hill, Peter. 



504 CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 


• 


Hogan, Thomas. 


McNally, Bernard. 


Purcell, Michael. 




Horan, John F. 


McReniff, John. 


Pye, Mary, Mrs. 




Hoye, Joseph. 


Macklin, James. 


Quinn, Edward F. 




Hughes, John H. 


Maher, Dennis. 


Regan, Mary. 




Hyland, James. 


Maher, Thomas F. 


Reilly, Mary. 




Jordan, John T. 


Mahon, James. 


Reilly, Michael. 




Kane, Patrick. 


Mahoney, Dennis. 


Roche, Ann, Mrs. 




Kavanagh, Annie, Mrs. 


Mahony, David J. 


Rooney, Catharine. 




Kearny, Joseph 0. 


Malone, Ann, Mrs. 


Rooney, Mary Frances, Miss. 




Keary, Patrick J. 


Malony, Catharine. 


Scott, EUen L., Mrs. 




Kelly, Francis. 


Mancha, Elizabeth, Mrs. 


Seavy, Jane, Mrs. 




Kennedy, John J. 


Mangin, Michael. 


Shalbey, Edward. 




Kennedy, Thomas. 


Manning, Michael. 


SheU, N. 




Kenny, Patrick. 


May, Andrew. 


Sheridan, Edward. 




Keohane, Dennis. 


Meade, Thomas. 


Sherry, Mary A., Miss. 




Killevey, Thomas. 


Meehan, James. 


Shorky, John, Mrs. 




Lane, Daniel. 


Meehan, John M. 


Sinnott, James. 




Lane, Thomas. 


Melville, Dennis. 


Slattery, David. 




Lang, Alice, Mrs. 


Mitchell, Margaret A. 


Slattery, J. 




Larkin, James B. 


Molony, F. 


Smith, Charles B. 




Leonard, Bridget. 


Monaghan, Owen. 


Smith, Hugh. 




Lowney, Martha. 


Moore, James. 


Smith, Mary. 




Lynch, Joseph A. 


Moore, Margaret, Mrs. 


Soden, David H. 




Lynch, Patrick. 


Moran, Peter. 


Stack, Edward. 




Lynch, Peter. 


Morgan, Sarah, Mrs. 


Stackpole, Julia, Mrs. 




Lyon, Mary, Mrs. 


Mullins, John. 


Stewart, Bridget, Mrs. 




Lyons, Cornelius. 


Miillins, Michael. 


Stokes, Mary. 




McArdle, John. 


Mullins, William. 


Sullivan, Cornelius. 




McArdle, Peter. 


Murphy, Daniel J. 


Sullivan, John. 




McBarron, James W. 


Murray, Cornelius. 


Sullivan, Lizzie. 




McCarthy, Charles. 


Murray, James. 


Sullivan, Mary, Mrs. 




McCarthy, James. 


Nagle, Patrick. 


Sullivan, Michael. 




McCarthy, Mary, Mrs. 


Nevin, C. 


S wanton, John. 




McCarthy, Michael. 


Nolan, Anthony. 


Sweeney, Patrick L. 




McClancy, Stephen. 


Nolan, Ella, Miss. 


Taylor, Bridget. 




McCormick, Peter A. 


Nolan, John. 


Taylor, Catharine. 




McDevitt, Edward & Cath. 


O'Brien, Daniel. 


Tiernan, James. 




McDonnell, James. 


O'Brien, M. 


Travers, James A. 




McGrath, Roddy. 


O'Brien, Owen. 


Twigg, Timothy. 




McGuire, J. T. 


O'Conner, James. 


Valentine, George. 




McGuire, Mary, Mrs. 


O'Conner, William H. 


Wallace, William. 




McKeever, Ann Teresa. 


O'Connor, Patrick. 


Walsh, Patrick. 




McKenna, William James. 


O'Connor, Richard. 


Waters, Patrick. 




McKerby, Bridget, Mrs. 


O'DonneU, Andrew. 


Welch, William J. 




McKnight, John E. 


O'Neill, D. 


Whalen, Michael. 




McLaughlin, Patrick. 


Parsons, Frederick J. 


White, Maurice. 




McMahon, Honora, Miss. 


Patten, Matthew. 


Wliite, Michael. 




McMahon, Michael, Mrs. 


Pratt, Michael. 


Wilford, Francis. 





EEV. EDWARD J. O'REILLY, 

PASTOR OF THE CHUECH OF ST. MAEY. 



THIS clergyman, whose thirty years' labor as a 
priest in the diocese has received from his Em- 
inence Cardinal McCloskey a token of appreciation in his 
selection as a member of his council as Archbishop of 
New York, is a native of the South. 

He was born at Savannah, Georgia, on the first 
day of September, 1824, while his native State formed 
part of the Diocese of Charleston, then guided by that 
glory of our episcopate, Bishop England. He was gradu- 
ated at Mount St. Mary's, Maryland, and, after pm^suing 
his theological studies at St. Joseph's Seminary, Fordham, 
New York, he received priest's orders at the hands of 
Bishop Hughes, on the 23d of September, 1848, in St. 
Patrick's Cathedral. 

On the day of his ordination he was appointed 
pastor of the Church of Our Lady of Mercy, Portchester, 
whence he attended also the Catholics at the old Hugue- 
not settlement. New Rochelle. Finding that the Church 
of St. Matthew at this point was likely to increase, he 
made it his principal care, and in 1849 removed to that 



506 



CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 



place. He remained in charge of the two congregations 
for some years, highly esteemed by his flock. 

In 1853, he was appointed pastor of the Church of 
St. Patrick, in Newburgh, and directed every effort to 
the good of his people and the interest of religion, the 
children being his especial care. One of the earliest results 
of his energy and zeal was a neat and comparatively 
large school-house, in which were employed competent 
secular teachers for both boys and girls; but at a later 
period the girls were confided to the care of the Sisters 
of Charity. 

When Rev. Mr. O'Reilly failed to obtain a share of 
the public funds, to aid in carrjdng on his schools, far 
from being discouraged, he set to work with renewed 
ardor to meet his responsibility. 

During the fourteen years that he spent in New- 
burgh, the parish of St. Patrick's prospered so under his 
fostering care that it came to be regarded as one of 
the leading parishes outside the City of New York. 
The church, schools, societies, and the many great works 
which cluster round a large parish, are the monuments 
left by this zealous pastor to recall his memory. De- 
spite his modest, humble manner — a manner that so often 
effectually covers sterling worth — his people found the 
key to those inner qualities that seldom appear on the 
surface ; while those not of his own flock recognized in 
him a man of high intellectual stamp. Therefore it is little 



CHURCH OF ST. MARY. 507 

to be wondered at that on going to the next scene of 
his labors he carried with him the love and gratitude 
of his flock. 

Towards the close of May, 1867, he was appointed 
by the Most Reverend Archbishop to St. Mary's, which 
at an earlier period was one of the most populous parishes 
in the City of New York. Here he continued his career 
of usefulness, and soon learned that with narrowed re- 
sources he must meet heavy church expenses and carry 
on the schools. 

When the Most Reverend Archbishop McCloskey, in 
1868, convened the third diocesan synod of his diocese, 
the Rev. E. J. O'Reilly acted as secretary of that im- 
portant convention of the clergy. 

In 1873, the Most Reverend Archbishop selected him 
as a member of his council, one of his advisers and 
consulters in the management of important affairs relating 
to the diocese. 

On the 20th of September, 1875, he was chosen to 
deliver, in St. Peter's Church, a sermon at the mass 
offered for those who had gloriously laid down their 
lives in defence of the Holy See. 

His labors in his own parish, and the improvements 
accomplished by him, are already recorded in the sketch 
of the church, and need not be repeated here. 




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CHURCH OF SAINT MARY MAGDALEN. 

EAST SEVENTEENTH STEEET. 



THE church dedicated to the celebrated penitent 
of the gospel, model, by her contrition and love, 
of all who renounce the wide and flowery ways of sin 
to tread the narrow and arduous way of the cross that 
leads to life, is one of the most recent of the religious 
edifices erected by the Grerman Catholics of New York 
City. It is due mainly to the zeal of the present pas- 
tor, the Rev. Adam F. Tonner, who, while assistant at 
St. Nicholas' Church, felt assured that another German 
church in that part of the city was peremptorily demanded. 

The Most Eeverend Archbishop was convinced by 
the cogency of his arguments, and permitted the attempt. 
In the district assigned to him, he looked around for a 
suitable hall in which to gather the Catholics, and for- 
tunately obtained a large room in Temperance Hall, on 
the comer of Twenty-third Street and Second Avenue, 
one of the Father Matthew temperance societies having 
kindly given the new pastor the use of the hall for two 
months. 

Having thus secured a place where for the time be- 
ing the Holy Sacrifice could be offered, he purchased 



510 



CATHOLIC CHURCHES OE NEW YORK. 



lots on Nineteenth Street, and commenced tlie erection 
of a church in honor of St. Mary Magdalen. The first 
mass in the new district was offered up by the pastor, 
August 10th, 1873. 

The corner-stone of the new edifice was laid by the 
Rev. Father Joseph Wirth, then rector of the Church 
of the Most Holy Redeemer, in Third Street, and at 
present pastor of the Church of St. Alphonsus Liguori, 

The work was then pushed on rapidly, so that the 
church was completed before the end of the year. 

The Church of St. Mary Magdalen was solemnly ded- 
icated to the service of Almighty Grod, with all the 
grandeur of the Roman rite, on the 12th day of Octo- 
ber, 1873. The Very Rev. William Quinn, Vicar Gren- 
eral of the diocese, officiated on the occasion, and a 
sermon was preached at the High Mass that followed, 
the sacred orator being the Redemptorist Father Klei- 
neidam. Many of the city clergy were present, among 
others the Rev. Father Ivo, superior of the Capuchin 
Fathers at the Church of Our Lady of Sorrows, and 
Father Arnold. 

The chm'ch thus opened to divine worship has since 
prospered, the Divine favor being manifest. As the con- 
gregation has increased, there is a desire to erect a school- 
house, and to obtain a convenient and suitable edifice 
for a parochial residence. 



CHURCH OF ST. MARY MAGDALEN. 511 

REV. ADAM FRANCIS TONNER, 

PASTOR OF THE CHURCH OF ST. MARY MAGDALEN. 



THE pastor of the Cliurch of St. Mary Magdalen 
was born in Foehrer, near Treves, Prussia, on 
the 5th of December, 1835. He came to this country 
in the month of October, 1848, and, resolving- to devote 
his life and talents to serve God in His holy ministry, he 
entered St. Vincent's College, Pennsylvania, and after a 
preliminary training there, under the learned and experi- 
enced Benedictines, he proceeded to Canada, and in the 
Greater or Theological Seminary at Montreal, prepared 
to receive those holy orders which were to enroll him 
among the priests of God. He was ordained by the 
Most Reverend Archbishop McCloskey, in St. Patrick's 
Cathedral, on the 26th of June, 1865. 

The first mission of the young priest was that of 
assistant in the Church of St. Nicholas, on Second Street, 
where he remained until he gathered a new flock around 
the altar of the holy penitent of Magdala. Then he 
erected the church which is a conspicuous monument of 
his zeal and perseverance. 

His assistant is the Rev. Gallus Briider. 



Roll of Honor. 

Frank May. Frank Blaiseu^. Jacob Bertram. 







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CHURCH OF SAINT MICHAEL 

WEST THIRTY-SECOND STEEET. 



THERE seems to be evidence that to the mighty 
Archangel St. Michael, the prince of the hosts 
of the Lord, was dedicated the first Catholic chapel ever 
reared on the soil of our republic. The church styles him 
the " standard bearer," and he thus bore the standard of 
the faith into the territory we now occupy. It was most 
fitting then that New York should have a church especially 
dedicated to this great angel, where his powerful protec- 
tion over our whole country might be more directly im- 
plored. 

St. Michael was the leader of the faithful angels 
against Lucifer; he was the protector of the Jewish 
nation ; the prophet Daniel saw his power and influence ; 
St. Jude and St. John tell us of his influence. The 
Church constantly invokes him — in the mass at the Con- 
fiteor ; in the incensing of the altar ; in the recommend- 
ation of a departing soul, and in the Mass for the Dead; 
in the Litany of the Saints. She celebrates two feasts 
in his honor — his apparition during a pestilence in Rome 
on the 8th of May ; the dedication of a church under 

his invocation on the 29th of September. To Catholics 
33 



514 CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 

of New York, this last feast is also the anniversary of 
the first martyr who, within the present limits of the 
State, shed his blood for the faith of Jesus Christ. 

It was a happy thought that led the Rev. Arthur J. 
Donnelly to place under such a patron the parish con- 
fided to his care, in the summer of 1857, by the Most 
Rev. Archbishop Hughes. The rapid increase of Catho- 
lics on the western side of the island, between the 
Church of St. Columba and that of the Holy Cross, led 
the Most Reverend Archbishop to lay off a new parish, 
extending from Twenty-eighth to Thirty-eighth Street, 
and from Sixth Avenue to the banks of the Hudson, 

As the young pastor was instructed to erect his 
church as near midway as possible between the two ex- 
isting churches, but further west, he purchased, for eleven 
thousand dollars, a plot on Thirty-first Street, between 
Ninth and Tenth Avenues. 

Before he could form any plans for erecting his 
church, the great financial crisis of 1857 occurred. Thou- 
sands were thrown out of employment, and this was es- 
pecially the case in the parish of St. Michael. The very 
site he had purchased was slipping from the pastor's 
hand. A preliminary payment had been made ; more had 
to be paid or the whole would be lost. Loans, obtained 
with exertion among personal friends, enabled him to 
overcome the first difficulty. The ground was St. Mi- 
chael's. 



CHURCH OF ST. MICHAEL. 515 

To attempt the erection of a cliurcli under sncli 
circumstances would have been madness ; but the Rev. 
Mr. Donnelly was not one to sit still and wait. He was 
a pastor, and his flock must have a place to meet and 
offer up the Holy Sacrifice. In the rear of the lot was 
a row of time-worn two-story frame houses. By re- 
moving the floors and strengthening the frames, these, 
with a cheap brick extension running to the street, formed 
the temporary chapel of St. Michael and the residence 
of the pastor. 

On Sunday, the 20th of September, 1857, this chapel 
was formally opened, and mass celebrated, the Very Rev. 
William Starrs, the Vicar General, and more than once 
administrator of the diocese, preaching. When the pe- 
riod of financial distress had passed, the Rev. Mr. Don- 
nelly collected means to j^ay off the indebtedness he had 
incm'red, and to begin, in a quiet, steady way, to erect 
the church. During the year 1861, when the country 
was resounding with the din of civil war, the basement 
story of the new church was built around the tempo- 
rary chapel, the services in which were never disturbed. 
When the new walls had risen to a sufficient height, a 
roof was tlu"own over it, the first structure removed, and 
the new chapel was fitted up for divine service. 

The Holy Sacrifice of the mass was celebrated here 
for the first time on the feast of St. Michael, when it 
was dedicated by his Grace the Most Reverend John 



516 CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 

Hughes, who preached on the occasion, his text being, 
"My house is the house of prayer." 

The chui'ch as thus adapted for use was eighty feet 
on Thirty-first Street, approached tlu-ough an entrance on 
Thirty-second Street, where the building was only twenty- 
five feet wide. The front there was of brown stone. 
Owing to the difference of the grade in the two streets, 
the entrance on Thirty-first Street was much higher than 
the level of the next street, and by slightly raising the 
floor of the part intended for the church, a convenient 
room was obtained for school purposes. 

In this somewhat curious but convenient chapel the 
congregation continued to worship for some time, cheered 
by the encom^aging approval of the Archbishop to pro- 
ceed with their edifice. Undeterred by the uncertain state 
of public affairs, the pastor went bravely on. The front 
wall and tower were completed in 1862, and in the en- 
suing year the rear and side walls rose, and the church 
was enclosed. It was finally completed according to the 
original plan early in 1864, and gave a fine church one 
hundred feet in depth. 

It was solemnly dedicated on the 10th of April, 
1864, by the Very Rev. William Starrs, administrator of 
the diocese during the vacancy of the see after the death 
of Archbishop Hughes. 

The health of the pastor soon after compelled him 
to visit Europe, but he returned full of courage, and 



CHURCH OF ST. MICHAEL. 517 

resolved to make Ms parish a model. His prospects de- 
manded more land, and as occasion offered lie purchased 
piece after piece. Before many years he had acquired ten 
additional lots, giving him fronts on the avenue and the 
two adjacent streets. 

In 1867, having ground for the purpose, he set to 
work to carry his church through its fidl width from 
street to street — a length of two hundred feet. It 
was, when thus completed, a peculiarly fine and grand 
church. 

The church, thus completed, was dedicated May 17, 
1868, by his Grace the Most Reverend John McCloskey, 
Archbishop of New York, who delivered a sermon on 
the occasion. 

At the opening of his labors the pastor was struck 
by the small number of children who appeared in the 
church. He opened a Sunday-school, but few joined it. 
The children had evidently not been trained by their 
parents to feel the obligation of hearing mass on Sun- 
days. Many, by attending the public schools under the 
masked proselytism or religion-extirpating system there 
prevalent, were growing up indifferent to all religion. 
This was a terrible state of things, to be checked and 
reformed. The Rev. Mr. Donnelly said a mass specially 
for the children, and kept at his Sunday-school till he 
had twelve hundred who came regularly to mass and in- 
struction. All he could do he felt to be inadequate. 



618 



CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 



yet he was not in a position to establish a Catholic 
school. 

At last, however, on the 10th of June, 1866, the 
corner-stone of the girls' school was laid, by Ms Grace 
the Most Rev. Aixhbishop McCloskey, and the basement 
built. When the extension of the church was completed, 
the work on the schools was pushed, and both schools 
were ready for use in 1870. 

It was not enough to save the rising generation. 
The Rev. Mr. Donnelly, to foster vocations in his parish, 
opened a class for all who felt called to the ministry. 
In 1867, when he proposed it, nearly a hundred pre- 
sented themselves. Of these he selected twenty-five, and 
they formed a nucleus of a body destined to give future 
pastors to our churches. Eight of the original twenty-five 
persevered. The Rev. S. J. Nagle, who completed his 
studies at St. Sulpice, Paris, and was ordained in the 
seminary at Troy, was the first fruits of Mr. Donnelly's 
zeal. The Rev. Alfred Evans soon folloAved, and one by 
one they were ordained for service in the missions. 

The parochial schools were finally opened, to the 
great joy of the parish, in September, 1870 ; the boys' 
school with four hundred scholars, under seven teachers. 

The erection of the gu-ls' school was completed some 
years after, but it was a question how to insm-e a suc- 
cession of competent teachers. The orders engaged in 
instruction in the city seemed overtasked; and, after long 



CHUECH OF ST. MICHAEL. " 519 

deliberation and consultation, the Rev. Mr. Donnelly con- 
cluded that the interests of his parish would be most 
advanced by introducing the Presentation Nuns — an Irish 
order founded by Miss Nano Nagle, in the last century. 
With the approval of the Most Reverend Archbishop, he 
went to Ireland, in 1874, and obtained from the convents 
of Terenure and Clondalkin, near Dublin, tive confessed 
Sisters, who, with Rev. Mother Mary Joseph Hickey as 
superior, came, accompanied by tive postulants, to found 
the order in America. They were warmly welcomed by 
the parish on their arrival, September 8th, 1874, and soon 
after took possession of the convent prepared for them. 
They opened St. Michael's parochial school for girls, with 
six hundred pupils. 

These schools with the parochial residence form an 
imposing mass of buildings on Ninth Avenue. They are 
in modern Gothic style — the first story of Connecticut 
stone, the upper stories of brick trimmed with stone. The 
windows are in doublets, with hooded and depressed pointed 
arches. At each angle of the building is a tower. The 
entrances on each street are fine ; that on Ninth Avenue 
is surmounted by a panel of marble, with St. Michael 
crushing the dragon in relievo. The rooms are well 
lighted and ventilated, and there is a fine exhibition hall 
reserved for great occasions. The whole structure was 
erected under the supervision of the architect, Mr. L. J. 
O'Connor, and cost about a hundred thousand dollars. 



520 



CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 



The various cliurcla buildings, with the schools, have 
cost over four hundred thousand dollars, of which ninety- 
two thousand remains unpaid. 

The church is organized under the law of March 
25th, 1863, the original trustees in 1866 being the Most 
Reverend Archbishop ; the Very Hev. William Starrs, V.Gr. ; 
Rev. Arthur J. Donnelly, pastor; Edward Fitzpatrick, and 
Michael Canning. 

So zealous a pastor would naturally establish socie- 
ties. The Association of St. Michael includes almost every 
adult worthy of the name of Catholic in the parish. 
While it has formed the members to the practical dis- 
charge of their spiritual duties, it has quickened their 
zeal, and this society has given more than one hundi-ed 
thousand dollars towards the chui-ch and schools, and de- 
votes its whole revenue to the support of the latter. The 
Young Men's Catholic Lyceum, founded by the Rev. 
Thomas J. Ducey, and occupying a house of its own, is 
destined to do incalculable good to the Catholic young 
men of the whole city. There is also the St. Michael's 
Total Abstinence Society, doing its good work. 

The Presentation Nuns, since their coming into the 
parish, have established the Sodality of St. Monica, whose 
objects are: First, to afford to adult women of every 
state of life the benefit of religious instruction in their 
respective duties; second, to insm-e to its members the 
opportunity of sanctifying the Sunday by giving a due 



CHURCH OF ST. MICHAEL. 



521 



proportion of it to religious exercises ; third, to pro- 
mote the regular and devout frequentation of the sacra- 
ments ; fourth, the proper training of the young ; fifth, 
to promote peace, order, and cheerfulness in Clu'istian 
families ; sixth, the visitation and spiritual comfort of 
the sick. 

Among the deceased members of the parish, whose 
generous contributions have encouraged Father Donnelly 
in all his undertakings during their lives, or who have 
left generous bequests, and whose names shall live in 
the parish in grateful remembrance, are Owen Kenny, 
John O'Neill, formerly of Thirty-fifth Street; Cornelius 
Doyle, Eichard Murray, John McGrrane, Malachi Fitzpat- 
rick, Robert McCormick, William Wilson, Timothy Maro- 
ney, Bernard Murray, Michael Donnelly, James Conway, 
late of Sixty-first Street; Owen Mallon, Patrick McEh-oy, 
late of Lexington Avenue; Daniel Early, Thomas Cos- 
tello, Mrs. Margaret Byrne, Mrs. Owen Mallon, Mrs. 
Margaret Maguire, Mrs. Ann Hurst, Mrs. Ann Ledwith, 
Mrs. Francis McNulty, Mrs. Catharine McCusker. 



Roll of Honor 



Bambrick, James. 
Bathe, Christopher. 
Bogue, Thomas. 
Boylan, Michael. 
Boyle, Thomas. 
Bradley, Margaret. 
Brangan, Lawrence. 



Brice, Charles. 

Brice, Henry. 

Brice, John. 

Brown, Patrick. 

Bryant, E., Miss. 

Bulger, P. J. 

Bush, Christopher J., Mrs. 



Callary, Mary A., Mrs. 
Canning, Michael. 
Cannon, Michael. 
Carey, Thomas F. 
Carroll, Michael. 
Cassidy, Martin. 
Clancy, John. 



522 OA^I^HOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 


Clarke, James. 


Hatherley, Thomas R. 


Meehan, Patrick J. 


Cleary, John. 


Haxton, William. 


Meredith, Philip. 


Cockerill, Thomas. 


Hearn, Thomas, Mrs. 


Montague, Edward. 


Cody, Elizabeth, Mrs. 


Hennessey, Patrick J., Mrs. 


Morgan, Francis. 


Coffey, Ann, Mrs. 


Hogan, John. 


Mulligan, John. 


Conboy, Michael. 


Horrigan, Thomas. 


Murphy, Catharine, Mrs. 


Connell, Catharine, Mrs. 


Hussey, Edward M. F. 


Murphy, Bernard K. 


Connell, Peter. 


Hurst, George. 


Murphy, Johanna. 


Connolly, Catharine. 


Hynch, Patrick. 


Murphy, John. 


Connolly, Peter J. 


Jaques, Zackariah. 


Murphy, Julia. 


Conroy, John. 


Joyce, Edward. 


Murphy, Margaret. 


Corcoran, Michael, Mrs. 


Keating, Patrick. 


Murray, Annie. 


Corrigan, Edward. 


Keenan, William. 


Murray, Peter. 


Coyle, Thomas V. 


Kennedy, James. 


Nagle, Michael H. 


Creggy, John. 


Kenney, Daniel E. 


O'Brien, C. F. 


Curnen, James. 


Kenny, Peter D. 


O'Brien, John. 


Darcy, Mary. 


Kettle, Philip. 


O'Brien, Patrick. 


Davis, Mary. 


Kieran, John. 


O'Donnell, Mary, Mrs. 


De Noville, Zephine. 


Kiernan, Andrew. 


O'Grady, James. 


Dillon, James, Mrs. 


Laracy, Philip. 


O'Hara, Arthur. 


Donnelly, D. M. 


Lavary, Daniel. 


O'Neill, John. 


Donnelly, Michael, Mrs. 


Lee, Samuel. 


O'Rourke, Ann, Mrs. 


Donohue, William. 


Logan, Ann. 


Phelan, Patrick. 


Doran, Edward A. 


McAleer, Michael, Mrs. 


Quinn, Daniel, 


Dougherty, Felix. 


McCabe, James. 


Quinn, Michael. 


Dougherty, John. 


McCann, Bridget, Miss. 


Raine, Thomas J. 


Early, John. 


McCarthy, Matthew. 


Rayy, Josephine. 


Evans, Mrs. 


McCoy, Patrick. 


Reid, Mrs. 


Evers, K. L., Mrs. 


McCusker, Michael. 


Reilly, John. 


Farley, Delia. 


McDonald, James F., Mrs. 


Reynolds, John. 


Farrelly, Maggie. 


McElvey, John. 


Reynolds, Thomas. 


Finnin, Michael. 


McGee, James, Mrs. 


Rice, Thomas. 


Fitzgerald, James. 


McGiU, Richard. 


Rogers, Francis. 


Fitzgerald, Michael. 


McGookin, Andrew. 


Ryan, Cornelius. 


Fitzpatrick, B., Mrs. 


McGowan, Felix. 


Ryan, John. 


Fitzpatrick, Edward. 


McGrath, Patrick. 


Salmon, William. 


Fitzpatrick, John. 


McGrath, Philip. 


Scully, Thomas. 


Fitzpatrick, William, Mrs. 


McGuire, Thomas J. 


Shannon, David. 


Flemming, Murtaugh. 


McKenna, Charles. 


Shey, Sylvester M. 


Fox, Mary. 


McKeovvn, Edward. 


Shine, Julia. 


Fulton, John. 


McNaly, James. 


Shue, Donard. 


Gallagher, L. V. 


Mack, Anton, Mrs. 


■ Smith, James. 


Grace, Robert S. 


Maher, Edward. 


Smith, Matthew, Mrs. 


Graham, Patrick. 


Mahon, Annie A. 


Starr, Mary. 


Gregory, Mary, Mrs. 


Mahon, Richard. 


Stokes, Thomas. 


Hagan, Arthur. 


Mahoney, Eliza. 


Tobin, Michael. 


Hagan, Bernard. 


Mallon, Charles. 


Toner, Thomas. 


Hand, Arthur. 


Mallon, John. 


Torney, John. 


Hand, Michael. 


Maloney, Thomas. 


Wall, Catharine, Mrs. 


Hannan, John. 


Mannion, Dennis. 


Walsh, Michael. 


Harty, Jeremiah. 


Marron, Daniel. 


Wilson, Aubray C. 



CHURCH OF ST. MICHAEL. 523 



REV. ARTHUR J. DONNELLY, 

PASTOR OF THE CHURCH OF ST. MICHAEL. 



REV. Artliur J. Donnelly was bom on tlie 19tli 
of January, 1820, in Athy, County Kildare, 
Ireland, and was brought liitber by liis parents, who 
emigrated to New York in 1827. His father intending 
liim for commercial pursuits, liis education was directed 
to that end, and was principally received in the schools 
of St. Mary's Church — first in the original church in 
Sheriff Street, then in the temporary church comer of 
Pitt and Grrand Streets, and finally in the present church. 
Leaving school in his fourteenth year, he ser^^ed a short 
apprenticeship to a dry goods firm doing business in this 
city and Paterson, N. J. This firm succumbed to the 
panic of 1836, and closed its business. He was then 
engaged by Lord & Taylor, whose only store at that 
time was in Catharine Street. With this firm he remained 
eight years, filling a confidential position the latter part 
of the time. In 1844, he formed a copartnership and 
entered into business with his cousin, the late David P. 
Campion, under the title of Campion & Donnelly. Dur- 
ing these years the attractions and excitements of 



524 CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 

commercial life did not suppress an oft-felt desire to 
study for the priesthood, which was not acted on, prob- 
ably because no opening presented itself for the purpose. 
During his youth there was no school in New York 
calculated to develop a vocation or point out the road to 
the priesthood. In 1846, St. Joseph's Seminary was 
established by Bishop Hughes, and placed in charge of 
the Jesuit Fathers. A few visits to that institution and 
an acquaintance formed with some of its students led Mr. 
Donnelly to abandon commercial life for the sanctuary. 
Having been cordially received by Bishop Hughes, who 
approved of his resolution, he withdrew from business and 
entered St. Joseph's Seminary a few months after its 
establishment. 

He vras ordained priest by the Most Eeverend Arch- 
bishop Hughes, in St. Patrick's Cathedral, on the 6th of 
October, 1852, and on the 28th of the same month was 
sent to Manhattanville to organize a parish and erect a 
church. In our sketch of the Church of the Annuncia- 
tion we have seen how well he succeeded in the task 
confided to him, at the very outset of his sacerdotal 
career. 

On the 14th of October, 1855, he was transferred 
to Fordham, to assume a position for which his business 
ability gave him singular advantages — that of procurator 
of St. Joseph's Theological Seminary, as well as to form 
a new parish and organize into a congregation the Cath- 



CHURCH OF ST. MICHAEL. 525 

olics in that district who began to frequent the church 
connected with the seminary. 

When he had spent two years in this position, to 
the complete satisfaction of the Most Reverend Ai-ch- 
bishop, his colleagues, and his flock, his Grace resolved 
to give a wider and more important field for the exercise 
of his priestly qualities. He sent him once more to or- 
ganize a parish and erect a church ; but, far-seeing as that 
great prelate was, and himself full of grand ideas for the 
futiure of Cathohcity, he could not for a moment have 
anticipated such results as have followed from the ap- 
pointment of the Rev. A. J, Donnelly to the parochial 
district of St. Michael's. 

Nor has his influence been confined to this parish. 
He was appointed by Archbishop Hughes to frame and 
prepare a uniform system of parochial books and ac- 
counts, which proved a work requiring great experience 
and knowledge, and attest his ability. 

Since 1873 he has been a member of the council 
of his Eminence the Archbishop of New York, a re- 
sponsible as well as honorable position, in itself a proof 
of the high esteem in which he is held. 




OHUROH OF THE NATIVITY OF OUR LORD. 

SECOND AVENUE. 



CHURCH OF THE NATIVITY OF OUR LORD. 

SECOND AVENUE. 



A 



BOUT the year 1842, the tremendous opposition 
made by the various Protestant denominations, 
when the Catholics asked the restoration of the old 
New York plan of aiding all religious schools, had a 
most beneficial efi'ect in arousing the whole Catholic 
body on the island to a sense of their rights and wants. 
It gave them new life, and was followed by a prompt 
extension of Catholic churches and institutions. 

At that time, the Catholic, starting from St. Mary's 
northward along the East River side of the island, looked 
in vain for any sign of his faith till he reached Fiftieth 
Street, where St. John's was just struggling into exist- 
ence, except the little German Chmxh of St. Nicholas. 
With these exceptions, the whole district was buried in 
darkness and the shadow of death. 

The Rev. Andrew Byrne, a far-sighted and active 
clergyman, who believed in establishing new churches 
wherever possible, had looked anxiously for some oppor- 
tunity to organize a new parish in that part of the 
city. At last, in February, 1842, the announcement of 
legal sales proclaimed that, by order of the Court of 



528 



CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 



Chanceiy, a large and commodious building on Second 
Avenue, wliicli had been erected as a house of worship 
and occupied by a Presbyterian congregation, would be 
sold to the highest bidder. 

At the auction the bids were reasonable, and the 
church was purchased, in behalf of Rev. Mr. Byrne, by 
Edward Roche, Esq. As there was no part of the city 
Mdiere a chui-ch was more needed, this purchase was 
hailed by the Catholics. The Right Reverend Bishop 
Hughes had given his earnest sanction to the project, 
and now assigned the Rev. Mr. Byrne to this new field 
of labor. The church was fitted up for Catholic wor- 
ship, the Liturgy of the Apostles, of the Catacombs, of 
the Ages of Faith. A very neat and chaste altar, with 
rich gilt candlesticks, a painting of the Crucifixion as an 
altar-piece, with paintings of the Annunciation and the 
Assumption of our Lady at the sides, showed that the 
edifice was to be used for a purer and holier faith. 

It was solemnly dedicated on the 5th of June, 1842. 
The event attracted great numbers of Protestants as well 
as Catholics — no tickets being issued. The Right Rev- 
erend Bishop Hughes performed the dedication service, 
which deeply impressed all, especially the Protestant por- 
tion, particularly at the moment when the officiating 
prelate, after moving around the outside of the edifice, 
advanced through the great door in solemn procession up 
the nave to the altar. 



CHURCH OF THE NATIVITY OF OUR LORD. 529 

After the dedication of the chm-ch to the serrice of 
Almighty God, under the invocation of the Nativity of 
our Lord, a Pontifical High Mass was offered by the E,t. 
Rev. Benedict J. Fenwick, D.D., Bishop of Boston, one 
of the oldest li\ang of the early priests of New York. 
The Rev. John J. Conroy, afterwards Bishop of Albany, 
was deacon, and Rev. Dr. Harley, too soon to be lost 
to the diocese,- officiated as subdeacon ; the Rev. D. W. 
Bacon, who was to become, in time, Bishop of Portland, 
acted as master of ceremonies. In the eanctuary were also 
the Rev. Messrs. Starrs, McCaiTon, and O'Neill. 

After the gospel of the day, the Rt. Rev. Bishop 
Hughes preached, St. Paul's First Epistle to the Corin- 
thians (iii. 4), furnishing the text : " For no one can lay 
another foundation, but that which is laid, which is Christ 
Jesus." For more than an hour his eloquence kept the 
congregation fixed in profound attention. He spoke in 
warm commendation of the prompt and liberal aid given 
to the new pastor, to whom the Catholic community was 
indebted for this new church, by Dr. Roche, himself not 
a Catholic. 

The attendance was very large — estimated at two 
thousand five huadred — but no confusion took place, so 
perfect were the arrangements. 

The new parish was soon organized, and prosperous 
under the care of the Rev. Dr. Byrne, but on his appoint- 
ment as Bishop of Little Rock, Ai-kansas, the Rev. Ed- 
34 



530 CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 

ward O'Neill became pastor. The Rev. Richard Kein was, 
from 1844 for several years, assistant and then pastor, till 
he fomided St. Bridget's Church. 

In September, 1847, the Rev. George McCloskey 
was ajjpointed pastor, and for more than twenty years 
was the revered priest of the parish of the Nativity. 
During this long period he was assisted from time to 
time by various clergymen — the Rev. John Shanahan, one 
of Bishop Connolly's, priests, in 1848 ; the Rev. John 
Murray Forbes in 1852 ; in the following year by his 
brother, the Rev. William McCloskey, subsequently rector 
of the American College at Rome, and now Bishop of 
Louisville, Kentucky ; the Rev. Felix H. Farrelly now 
pastor of St. James, in 1853, and from 1855 by the 
Rev. William Everett. 

As the congregation seemed to increase beyond the 
capacity of the church, the Rev. George McCloskey, in 
1848, established the Chapel of the Nativity, at No. 572. 
Fourth Street, which was attended from the church, but 
the attempt to establish succursal chapels did not meet 
the wishes of the people ; the project was soon aban- 
doned and has never been revived. 

The health of the Rev. George McCloskey failed so 
that for a time he went to Europe in hopes of regaining 
strength to continue his labors. After visiting the fa- 
mous health resorts, he was, finding that years in Eu- 
rope left him no better, about to return to America, 



CHURCH OF THE NATIVITY OF OUR LORD. 531 

when lie made trial of Great Malvern, England. Here, 
though an invalid, he felt eager to labor, and finding 
that in February, after three months' stay, he was well 
enough to say mass, he fitted up a temporary chapel in 
a gymnasium. A little congregation assembled, which 
increased so as to excite alarm. The gymnasium was 
refused him ; then he set up his altar in a drill room, 
till the lady of the manor closed this on him. Not a 
place in Malvern could be found; but an American res- 
ident had a house with two large rooms. This became 
the chapel, and here mass was said daily, till the Rev. 
Dr. McCloskey returned to New York, when Bishop 
Ullathorne sent a priest to continue his labors. " 

Finding that his complete recovery was extremely 
doubtful, the Rev. Dr. McCloskey resigned his charge in 
April, 1869. 

The Rev. William Everett, who had been assistant 
since 1855, became pastor on the resignation of the Rev. 
George McCloskey, and is still directing the faithful of 
Nativity parish with quiet zeal and piety. His curates 
have been the Rev. J. J. Griffin and Rev. Thomas J. 
Ducey. His present assistant is the Rev. M. A. Nolan, 
appointed in 1872. 

The societies established in the parish are the Asso- 
ciation for the Propagation of the Faith, the Conference 
of St. Vincent de Paul, the Rosary Society, an Altar 
Society, and the Society of the Children of Mary. 



532 



CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 



Roll of Honor, 



CHURCH OF THE NATIVITY OF OUR LORD. 



Aubert, Eugene. 
Bannigan, Edward. 
Bingham, Jacob W. 
Brady, Ann E., Mrs. 
Brady, Thomas. 
Brennan, Edward. 
Burns, John. 
Carroll, Bernard. 
Clark, Rose. 
Cogan, John. 
Cooke, William. 
Creamer, Francis. 
Crumey, Andrew. 
Cummings, Hugh. 
Cunningham, Patrick. 
Delaney, John. 
Dodien, Mansuy. 
Doody, Edward. 
Dowling, Joseph J. 
Dowling, Mary, Mrs. 
Doyle, Michael L. 
Duffy, Mary, Mrs. 
Dynan, Michael J. 
English, James. 
Farrell, Thomas. 
Foley, Matthew. 
Fox, Robert C. 
Fraprie, Abigael, Mrs. 



Fulton, James. 
Gallagher, John. 
Garno, Benjamin. 
Gorman, Anthony. 
Haggerty, Joseph. 
Hellen, Catharine. 
Hewitt, Thomas. 
Hodgins, Thomas. 
Hughes, John F. 
Hugo, Henry. 
Johnson, James. 
Kaughran, John E. 
Kelly, Tyler, Mrs. 
Kieman, John. 
Lalor, William. 
Larkin, Michael, Mrs. 
Lee, James. 
McCabe, Thomas. 
McCollum, Lydia A. 
McCullough, John. 
McDonald, Francis J. 
McGovem, Michael. 
McLaughlin, Michael. 
McLaughlin, Robert. 
Madden, Thomas. 
Madigan, Jeremiah. 
Maloney, Patrick. 
Manning, Thomas. 



Marshall, Henry. 
Meehan, John, Jr. 
Mitchell, William P. 
Murphy, John. 
Murray, Bridget, Mrs. 
Nagle, Garrett. 
Nugent, Mary. 
O'Brien, John. 
O'Connell, WilHam. 
O'Donnel, Ann, Mrs. 
O'Leary, John. 
O'Meara, James. 
O'Neil, Joanna. 
Poe, John. 
Price, William. 
Reilly, Bernard. 
Reilly, William J. 
Rodman, Isaac. 
Rooney, P. 
Ryan, Michael. 
Schuff, Jacob J. 
Sheckelton, Christopher. 
Shields, Andrew. 
Spratt, Michael. 
Walsh, James. 
Ward, Edward. 
Wilson, William R. 



I 



CHURCH OF THE NATIVITY OF OUR LORD. 533 



REV. WILLIAM EVEEETT, 

PASTOK OF THE CHUECH OF THE NATIVITY. 



THE Rev. William Everett, the present pastor of 
the Church of the Nativity, was bom in the 
City of Albany, August 14, 1814. 

He was brought up in the Protestant faith, and, study- 
ing for the ministry, received orders in the Protestant 
Episcopal Chm'cli, in wliich he spent several years offi- 
ciating as a clergyman of that body. In the impulse 
given to thought by men like the Rev. Samuel Farmer 
Jarvis in this country, and the Oxford school in Eng- 
land, many who had taken the Anglican system in good 
faith began to examine the solidity of the grounds on 
wliich it rested. Conviction dawned on not a few that 
the whole separation and reconstruction in the sixteenth 
century was unwarranted and without authority. It re- 
quired special graces from God in many cases to re- 
nounce position, associations, long-formed habits of thought, 
and to come humbly into the Catholic Church as lay- 
men. The Rev. Mr. Everett heroically made all the sac- 
rifices needed to correspond to the grace accorded him. 

He was received into the Catholic Church, and, after 
pursuing theological studies at St. . Joseph's Seminary, 



534 



CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 



Fordham, then directed by Fathers of the Society of 
Jesus, he was ordained priest by Archbishop Hughes on 
the 29th day of January, 1853, the feast of St. Francis 
de Sales. 

He was first assigned to duty in St. Peter's Church, 
but remained only a few months, when he was stationed 
at St. Joseph's Church as assistant. In 1854 he was 
appointed curate at St. Ann's Church, where he remained 
till the following year. 

He became assistant to the Rev. Gleorge McCloskey, 
in the Church of the Nativity, in the month of October, 
1855, and has remained connected with the parish for a 
period now approaching a quarter of a century, having 
been made parish priest by the Most Reverend Arch- 
bishop, now his Eminence Cardinal McCloskey, in 1869. 

His present associate is the Rev. M. A. Nolan. 




CHURCH OF SAINT NICHOLAS. 

SECOND STREET. 



CHURCH OF SAINT NICHOLAS. 



SECOND STREET. 



THE priest who organized the congregation which 
founded St. Peter's Church was a Geraian Fa- 
ther of the Society of Jesus. He found some of his 
Cathohc countrymen here in his earhest visits. Just after 
the close of the last century even, the question was 
raised of establishing a German church also; but the 
project was discouraged, and it was not till about the 
year 1834 that any formal steps were taken to organize 
a German congregation. 

This great work was due to the Rev. John Raffeiner, 
who, says Archbishop Hughes, " in his youth, his vigor- 
ous manhood, and his old age, both in holy priesthood 
and in the practice of a learned profession, served his 
Creator in fear and holiness. The venerable Father 
Raffeiner is summoned from amongst us to that other 
and better world which God has prepared for those who 
love and serve Him in this. In Heaven he will not 
forget to intercede for us, and especially for his people, 
who have been under his spiritual care so many years. 



CHURCH OF ST. NICHOLAS. 537 

Many of you have no recollection of the spiritual desti- 
tution that prevailed in New York when the now popu- 
lous dioceses of Brooklyn, New York, Buffalo, Albany, and 
Newark were comprised in one. The German Catholics 
were then but few, and totally devoid of spiritual aid. 
It was the good providence of God that, at this partic- 
ular period, directed the steps of Father Eaffeiner hither, 
where he entered most faithfully and earnestly on the 
work assigned him, in supplying spiritual comfort to liis 
needy countrymen. He was made the coadjutor of my 
immediate predecessor, the lamented Bishop Du Bois, and 
vested with the care and responsibility of attending to 
the spiritual wants of the German Catholics of the 
diocese. In justice to him I must say that wherever 
there were German Catholics, there would Father Raffeiner 
seek them out and minister to them, being prevented 
neither by the winter's snows, the summer's sun, nor the 
inconvenience of travel in that day, from fulfilling tlie 
duties assigned him." 

This language shows how eminent a priest St. 
Nicholas liad for its founder, and if the great Ai-ch- 
bishop could say, " Bishops, priests, and people have 
reason to remember Father Raffeiner for many years to 
come," his name and his memory can never be forgotten 
in the Church of St. Nicholas. 

Under his impulse, the German Catholics assembled 
and organized ; and an unoccupied Baptist church on 



538 



CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 



the corner of Delancey and Pitt Streets was hired. Here 
mass was said regularly. 

To erect a suitable church was the next step. For 
this purpose, on the 1st of September, 1834, they pur- 
chased, through Dr. Joseph C. Springer, of John Jacob 
Astor, four lots of ground on Second Street, between 
First Avenue and Avenue A, giving a front of a hun- 
dred feet and a depth of one hundred and six. On Easter 
Monday, April 20, 1835, the Very Rev. John Power, 
Vicar General of the dioeese, assisted by the Rev. Jo- 
seph A. Schneller of Christ Church and the Rev. John 
Raffeiner, proceeded to the ground, where a large con- 
course of citizens had assembled, and laid the ' corner- 
stone, with the ceremonies prescribed by the Roman 
ritual. The Rev. Mr. Schneller then addressed the 
audience in English. After treating of the general sub- 
ject of the erection of houses for divine worship, as 
well as of the structures raised in order to gratify human 
pride, he said: "The edifice which we now commence 
to erect will have nothing to boast from the ingenuity 
of the design which human skill is to impart. Its plain 
construction will furnish nothing to elicit admiration. It 
will neither be planned b}^ power nor achieved by wealtL 
But let not its simple plan and its diminutive di- 
mensions lessen the vast and incalculable importance 
of its object. Its object is not earthly. Ineffably 
superior to that pyramid which grew up in the plains 



CHURCH OF ST. NICHOLAS. 539 

of Egypt, it calculates tipon holy communings of man 
witli Grod. We lay not the foundations for a monu- 
ment of human pride, in which the remains of eartli's 
despotic rulers are to repose, but for a tabernacle in 
which the Eternal King of Heaven is to reside. It will 
not be a gigantic pile, to attract the admiration of na- 
tions and the gaze of many generations ; but a chapel 
in which spiritual blessings are to be received, which will 
fructify on this terrestrial stage of existence, and the plen- 
itude of whose enjoyment will be consummated in a life 
to come." 

The Rev. Mr. Raffeiner also addressed his flock in 
Grerman, impressing on them the greatness of the work 
which they had undertaken for the glory of God. 

The project was to erect first, in the centre of the 
lots, a building with a front of fifty-two feet, and extend- 
ing back seventy feet; and as the congregation increased 
in means and numbers, to add a transept ninety-six 
feet in length, and prolong the main building to ninety 
feet. The work was continued steadily, and the church 
finally erected; the builders' work and material costing 
$8,174.57; the organ $600, and the fitting-up, $1,384.45; 
in all, a little over ten thousand dollars. 

Before the work was completed, the lease of the 
hired church apparently terminated, and the Grerman Catho- 
lics were, for a time, accommodated in the basement of 
St. Mary's. The Rev. Mr. Raffeiner made every effort 



540 



CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 



to collect for the purpose of erecting the church, extend- 
ing his tour even as far as New Orleans. 

The church was at last ready, and was solemnly 
dedicated to the worship of the Holy Trinity, on Easter 
Sunday, 1836, under the invocation of St. Nicholas, Bishop 
of Myi-a. 

The Rev. Mr. Raffeiner remained for seven years pas- 
tor of St. Nicholas, having as assistant priest the Benedic- 
tine Father Nicholas Balleis. His labors were not confined 
to the parish — he was mainly instrumental in erecting a 
church at Macopin, N. J. ; laid the foundation of the 
Church of the Holy Trinity in Boston ; officiated in va- 
rious parts of New Jersey, at Albany, Utica, Rochester ; 
erected the Churcli of St. John the Baptist in Thirtieth 
Street, and the Chm'ch of the Most Holy Trinity, Wil- 
liamsburgh, where he died. 

He was succeeded in 1840 by Dom. Nicholas Balleis, 
on whose removal to Newark the Rev. Bishop Hughes 
wished to confide the church to the Redemptorists ; but 
the trustees declined to enter, into his plans, and the 
Rev. Gabriel Rumpler, C.SS.R., erected the Church of 
Our Most Holy Redeemer. 

In June, 1844, the Capuchin Father, Ambrose Buch- 
meyer, from the Diocese of Strigonia, Hungary, became 
pastor of St. Nicholas, and continued to direct the parish 
till his death, October 11th, 1861 ; assisted from August, 
1845, by Father Felician Krebesz of the same order. 



CHURCH OF ST. NICHOLAS. 



541 



Soon after he took charg-e of the parish it was found 
necessary to enlarge or rebuild the chui-ch. The carry- 
ing out of the original plan was abandoned, and the 
present fine church erected in 1848. It is a Grothic 
sti"ucture, the facade of cut brown stone. The interior is 
extremly neat, the wood- work being of walnut. The 
altar is of beautiful marble, elaboratel}'^ wrought and richly 
decorated, and there are two elegant side altars. The 
building cost thirty thousand dollars, all of which was 
paid when the time came for its dedication. 

This imposing ceremony was performed by the Right 
Rev. Bishop Hughes, on the 24th of December, 1848. 
The full ritual was carried out, the procession of bishops 
and clergy making the circuit of the chm'ch ^vithout and 
within. After the blessing of the altar, the Right 
Reverend Bishop addressed the immense multitude, who 
filled every part of the church. His text was : "I have 
rejoiced in the things that were said to me : We shall go 
into the house of the Lord." (Psalm cxxi. 1.) High Mass 
was then celebrated by the Rev. Mr. Rubesc, and an 
eloquent sermon preached by the celebrated Jesuit Father 
Pottgeiser. 

The new church seats eleven hundred and forty, and 
suffices amply for the wants of the congregation. 

Schools were established at an early date, and in 
1867 the Rev. Father Buchmeyer erected a fine school- 
house, which will accommodate a large number of pupils. 



542 CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 

The boys' school is conducted by the Brothers of the 
Christian Schools, who have six hundred and fifty pupils 
under their charge ; and the girls, to the number of seven 
hundred and fifty, are taught by the Sisters of St. Dominic. 

On the death of Father Buchmeyer, Father Krebesz 
became pastor, and discharged the duties of the position 
till he too passed away, January 4, 1876. 

His Eminence Cardinal McCloskey then confided the 
care of the parish to the Rev. Francis J. Shadier, who 
had been assistant since August 15, 1875. He is still 
pastor, assisted by the Rev. Anthony Lamell and Rev. 
John Mayer. 

There are in the church the Rosary Society, the 
Corpus Christi Society, the Society of the Agony of Our 
Lord, the Confraternity of the Sacred Heart, and four 
Sodalities of the Blessed Virgin. Besides these religious 
associations, there is the Conference of St. Vincent de 
Paul, and the St. Nicholas, St. Paul, St. Vincent de Paul, 
and St. Killian Societies. 

The saint to whom the church is dedicated may be 
regarded in some sort as the patron of New York. So 
widespread was the devotion to him, that in Catholic 
times he had churches under his invocation in every 
country of the East and West. He was the especial pa- 
tron of the poor, the oppressed, the imperiled maiden, 
the children, the mariner, and the trader. Not even the 
blasting sirocco of the sixteenth century could tear from 



CHUEOH OF ST. NICHOLAS. 543 

the hearts of the people a veneration for St. Nicholas. 
The Calvinists of Holland, who settled the island, taught 
their children to expect reward for good conduct tlu-ough 
the hands of St. Niklas, and children to this day at 
Clmstmas time look to Santa Claus, as he is called, by 
corruption, for the presents of the season. The city has 
its hotels, banks, insurance companies, societies named in 
his honor; and a publishing house, never Catholic in its 
tendencies, issues a magazine for the young which bears 
the name of this servant of God. 

St. Nicholas was born at Patara, a city in Asia 
Minor, a child of prayer granted to parents who had 
long sought offspring from God. Trained in piety, he 
corresponded fully to ^ the desires of his parents, and 
devoted himself to the altar as a priest of God. The 
wealth he inherited was used to relieve distress, especially 
that bashful poverty that shrinks from appeal. Entering 
a monastery at Myra, he became, in time, its abbot, and, 
when the archbishop of the city died, the abbot, re- 
nowned for his sanctity and miracles, was unanimously 
chosen. He is said to have suffered i]i the persecution 
of Diocletian, and to have aided powerfully in the Coun- 
cil of Nice to condemn the heresy of Arius. He died 
in 342, and was interred in his own cathedi-al, which 
was for ages a place of pilgrimage. In 1087 his relics 
were transferred from his ruined church to Bari, in Italy. 
The miracles wrought by his intercession diffused his 



644 



CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 



devotion througliout the West, and every seaport had, 
ere long, a chnrcli in his honor. That those who for- 
sook the faith should have borne his fame to our city 
is one of the remarkable instances of God's providence. 
He is especially honored in Europe as a patron of 
the young, one of the miracles ascribed to him being 
the restoration to life of three children who had been 
cruelly murdered and concealed in a tub. In allusion to 
this, he is frequently represented arrayed as a bishop 
with three children in a tub near him. 



Roll of Honor 



CHURCH OF ST. NICHOLAS. 



Kilian KJing. 



Anthony Euring. 



Fritz Emmerman. 



CHUECH OF ST. NICHOLAS. 545 



REV. F. J. SHADLER, 

PASTOK OF THE CHUECH OF ST. NICHOLAS. 



THE present pastor of the oldest German church, in 
New York City, the worthy successor of Father 
Raffeiner in his good work, is the Rev. Francis J. 
Shadier. 

This reverend gentleman is a native of Germany. 
He was bom on the 10th of May, 1834. He came 
to the United States when a child, and grew up amid 
the scenes of American life. At a suitable age, having 
made preliminary studies to fit him for entrance to a 
university, he entered our oldest Catholic institution, 
Georgetown College ; and, after the usual course in that 
seat of learning, resolved to enter the ecclesiastical state 
and devote his life to the service of the Almighty. 

To ground himself in that sacred learning which is 

necessary in one raised to holy orders, he < went to 

Europe, and pursued his divinity studies in France and 

Germany. He was ordained priest at Mayence, on the 

14th of August, 1864, by the late Bishop Ketteler, for 

the Diocese of Charleston, to which he had connected 

himself. 

Returning to the United States, he began the exer- 
35 



546 CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 

cise of the ministry in that diocese, then in a most 
disastrous condition ; the civil war having scattered the 
CathoHc body and left the State of South Carolina with 
desolated churches and institutions. 

Never, perhaps, have the Catholic priesthood in this 
country had a more discouraging field before them than 
that of our Southern States after the war. The young 
priest was not disheartened, but zealously endeavored to 
build up again the prostrate church. He labored on 
manfully till the end of the year 1872, when he found 
himself compelled to seek some other scene for his 
ministry. 

On coming to New York, he was assigned to St. 
Nicholas' Church, by the Most Reverend Archbishop, as 
assistant, in August, 1875, and was appointed pastor in 
January, 1876. 



o 

ft 
a 

a 



c 

Q 




CHURCH OF OUR LADY OF MERCY. 

FORDHAM. 



ONE of the great desires of the Most Reverend 
Archbishop Hughes, on his appointment as co- 
adjutor to the venerable Bishop Du Bois, was to estab- 
lish a theological seminary for the Diocese of New York. 
The venerable founder of Mount St. Mary's had in vain 
endeavored to create a similar institution after his ap- 
pointment as successor to Bishop Connolly. When his 
coadjutor had purchased the Rose ffiU property at Ford- 
ham and opened St. John's College, the way seemed 
open at last for endowing the diocese with an institution 
which would, in future, supply it with well educated 
priests, formed under learned and spiritual guides to the 
true sacerdotal spirit. 

To accommodate the professors and seminarians, the 
Right Reverend John McCloskey, D.D., coadjutor, laid 
the corner-stone of a beautiful Gothic seminary, near the 
college, on the 3d day of April, 1845. 

It was not at first designed to begin a church also, 
but the Right Reverend Bishop soon felt the necessity of 
erecting one of some size, not so much for the use of 
the Catholics in that vicinity, who were few and scat- 



CHURCH OF OUR LADY OF MERCY. 549 

tered, as to afford those preparing for the priesthood a 
chapel in which the services of the Church could be 
carried out through the ecclesiastical year, with full ad- 
herence to the rites and ceremonies prescribed in the 
rubrics. 

The church was begun in the course of the spring, 
and the work on the two structures went on simultane- 
ously till the fund collected was exhausted. In a state- 
ment or appeal issued in October, the Eight Eeverend 
Bishop Hughes said : " The church, which is to be ded- 
icated to the Blessed Virgin Mary, is, including the 
tower in front, one hundred feet long by fifty feet wide. 
Although it is a separate and a still more sacred edi- 
fice than the seminary, yet both are essentially parts of 
the same great work. The church also is advanced very 
considerably — the walls having been constructed and the 
roof, though not yet placed, framed and ready to be 
put on." 

The church was soon completed and dedicated. 
Among all the Catholic churches of the city, it is, we 
think, the only one that can be said to have been 
erected directly by Archbishop Hughes. 

A Latin poet, the Rev. R. Rainaldi, wrote of it: — 

" Virgo fave ; nova terapla tibi jam sustulit Hughes, 
Hue age cum Puero ccelicolisque veni, 
Per te rosarum tumulus, sic nomine prisci 
Hoc dixere patres, gratior erigiturj 



550 



CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 



Quique prius nullo ignotus gauclebat honore 
Fama modo hunc claro vulgat ubique sono. 

Vere novo pictas nectentes flore corollas 
Deponent aras ante tuas pueri ; 

Certatimque, simul celebrantes carmine laudes 
Te veniente die, Te fugiente, canent." 

When completed, it was one of the most beautiful 
churches yet seen, lighted by six stained-glass windows, 
representing St. Peter, St. Paul, and the fom* Evange- 
lists. 

As the Church of the Seminary, it witnessed the 
conferring of minor orders, and of the subdiaconate and 
diaconate, although the priesthood was conferred at St. 
Patrick's Cathedral. 

In 1855, the Right Rev. Dr. Hughes, resuming the 
direction of the seminary and church, sent the Rev. 
Arthur J. Donnelly to act as procurator of the institu- 
tion and pastor of the church. The number of Catho- 
lics in the vicinity had increased to such an extent that 
a regular parochial district was allotted, and it devolved 
on the Rev. Dr. Donnelly to organize this parish. From 
this time tlie Church of Our Lady of Mercy appears 
regularly in the list of the chm-ches of the diocese. 

In 1857, the Rev. Dr. Donnelly was called to a 
wider sphere, and the Rev, W. P. Morrogh, superior of 
the seminary, became pastor, and continued to minister 
to the parish till the final closing of the seminary, in 
1860, when, at the request of the Most Reverend Arch- 



CHURCH or OUR LADY OF MERCY. 551 

bishop, the Jesuit Fathers of St. John's College assumed 
the parochial care of the congregation connected with 
the church. The first pastors under this arrangement 
were the Rev. Father Isidore Daubresse, S.J., and the 
Rev. Father Paul Mignard, S.J. 

The Chui'ch of Our Lady of Mercy has continued 
under the care of the society down to the present time. 

The pastor in the year 1878 is the Rev. John J. 
Fitzpatrick, S.J., assisted by the Rev. Edward Doucet, S.J. 

Connected with the church are several pious asso- 
ciations — the Society of the Holy Rosary, the Young 
Men's Sodality of the Bona Mors, the Ladies' Sodality 
of the Blessed Virgin, the Confraternity of the Sacred 
Heart. There is also a Conference of the Society of 
St. Vincent de Paul, for the relief of the poor, and an 
Altar Society. 

Within the district of the Church of Our Lady of 
Mercy is the now venerable institution, St. John's Col- 
lege, the oldest Catholic University in the State ; and St. 
Joseph's Select Academy for Young Ladies, under the 
Sisters of the Hearts of Jesus and Mary ; and also an 
institution for deaf mutes, directed by the same commimity. 





552 CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 




K 


OLL OF H 


ONOR. 






CHURCH OF OUR LADY OF MERCY. 




Adamson Miss 


Finnigan, Mrs. 


Murphy, John. 




Bergen, Mrs. 


Fitzgerald, William. 


Murray, James. 




Bradley, Thomas. 


Geraghty, Bernard. 


Murray, Patrick. 




Brady, John. 


Geraghty, Mary. 


Nash, Michael. 




Burke, Ellen. 


Ging, James. 


Oches, E. 




Burns, John. 


Glynn, John. 


Peugnet, Eugene. 




Burns, Joseph. 


Goleven, Michael. 


Purroy, Francis M. 




Casey, Samuel.' 


Haughney, Patrick. 


Purroy, Henry D. 




Cassidy, Richard. 


Hicks, Patrick. 


Purtell, Anna M., Mrs. 




Clare, Margaret. 


Hogan, John. 


Quinn, Matthew. 




Clayton, Michael. 


Holt, Miss. 


Quinn, Michael. 




Connell, Michael. 


Houlihan, Thomas. 


Reddington, William. 




Connor, Francis. 


Keeley, John. 


Regan, Robert. 




Coogan, William. 


Kehoe, Lawrence. 


Ryan, Peter. 




Cowley, Mrs. 


Kenealy, Michael. 


Ryner, John. 




Crotty, James. 


Kerins, Thomas. 


Savage, John. 




Delaney, Michael. 


Leddy, John. 


Shally, Thomas. 




Delany, Denis. 


Lee, Patrick. 


Shanly, Patrick. 




Dobbins, Patrick. 


Loughman, Edward. 


Smith, M. P. 




Donnelly, Michael. 


Lynch, Mrs. 


Sullivan, Mrs. 




Donnelly, Patrick. 


McGuire, Denis. 


Thompson, John. 




Doran, Michael. 


Mack, Michael. 


Underwood, John. 




Doran, William. 


Mangan, John. 


Ward, Christopher. 




Dovvling, Michael. 


Martin, Mrs. 


Webb, Thomas. 




Downes, Mary. 


Meagher, Thomas. 


Weiser, Mrs. 




Dundon, Arthur H 


Mooney, Patrick. 


Windsor, William. 




Dunne, Thomas. 


Moore, Joseph. 


Young, William. 


• 


Dyer, John. 


Mulligan, Edward. 





CHURCH OF OUR LADY OF MERCY. 553 



KEV. JOHN FITZPATRICK, 

PASTOE OF THE CHURCH OF OUR LADY OF MERCY. 



SINCE the blending of the Diocesan Seminary of 
St. Joseph with the Provincial Seminary established 
at Troy, the Chm*ch of Our Ladj of Mercy, formerly 
directed for several years previous from the seminary, has 
been confided to the care of Jesuit Fathers of St. John's 
College, amid whose grounds it stands. 

The Reverend Father who has for the last year 
performed parochial duties in this church is the Rev. John 
Fitzpatrick. He was bom July 13th, 1832, and, after 
a course of study, feeling himself called to the religious 
state, entered the Society of Jesus, August 21st, 1857. 

Two years spent in the retirement of a novitiate, de- 
voted to prayer and spiritual exercises, are followed by 
the scholastic vows. Then the young Jesuit is either 
assigned to duty as teacher or prefect in one of the 
colleges of the order or pursues at once the studies 
which are to prepare him for priestly ordination. 

Father Fitzpatrick received holy orders apparently 
about the year 1868. In that year he was stationed at 
the Church of St. Joseph, Troy, as assistant pastor, and 
acquired general esteem by his modesty and zeal, as 



554 



CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 



well as his devotedness to every duty of a priest. In 
1870 he was appointed vice-president of St. John's Col- 
lege, Fordham, and as Prefect of Discipline had the gen- 
eral supervision of the students. This responsible position 
he filled for several years. The prosperity of the college 
during this period attests his fitness for the administration 
of a large educational establishment, and his knowledge 
of the young. In 1875 he was again engaged in mis- 
sionary work, at his old parish in Troy, and in 1877 was 
selected to act as parish priest of Our Lady of Mercy, 
where he now exercises the ministry most acceptably. 




CHURCH OF OUR LADY OF THE SEVEN DOLORS. 

PITT STKEET. 



CHURCH OF OUR LADY OF THE SEVEN DOLORS 
(OUR LADY OF SORROWS). 



PITT STEEET. 



THIS clixirch, one of the most recently erected for 
the use of the German CathoHcs of the city, is 
due to the zeal of the Capuchin Fathers, who are a 
hranch of the great Franciscan family. They were no 
strangers in this country, having labored in Nova Scotia, 
Maine, and Louisiana, in the days of French and Spanish 
colonial rule, and gave an early bishop in the South, 
as well as in our day an archbishop in the British 
Provinces. 

The recent establishment of the order in this country 
is due to two secular priests — Rev. Messrs. Haas and 
Frey — who came to this country in 1856, with a view 
of forming a community under the Capuchin rule. Bishop 
Llenni of Milwaukee welcomed them to his diocese. The 
Greneral of the order deputed Father Anthony Maria to 
admit them, and direct them during theii' novitiate. The 
Convent of Calvary in Wisconsin arose in Fond du Lac 
County, and God blessed the new community. A second 
convent and church were established in Milwaukee. 



CHURCH OF OUR LADY OF SEVEN DOLORS. 557 

Rev. Father Bonaventura Frey then came to New 
York, and the Most Reverend Archbishop McCloskey, 
beheving that his order could perform a good work 
among the German population of the city, authorized 
him to commence the erection of a church. 

With the approval of his Grace, Father Bonaventura 
selected the eastern part of the city, within the limits 
of old St. Mary's. A structure of some size, used as a 
saloon, was obtained for use as the temporary chapel, 
and was soon fitted up by the zeal and energy of Father 
Bonaventura. Three lots of ground were then purchased 
on Pitt Street, between Rivington and Stanton Streets, 
and on the 15th of August, 1867, the comer-stone of a 
church, to be erected under the invocation of the Blessed 
Virgin of the Seven Dolors, was laid by the Most Rev- 
erend Archbishop McCloskey. 

By the exertions of the Rev. Father Bonaventura col- 
lections were made to carry on the work, and the chui-ch, 
a structure of brick, supported by stone pillars, lighted by 
one of the largest cupolas then in the city, was soon com- 
pleted. It is built in the Byzantine style of architecture, 
and is one hundred feet long by sixty-six feet wide, and 
will accommodate twelve hundi'ed people. The inte- 
rior is very neat, and the beautiful altar is surmounted 
by an elegant pieta, a statue of Om- Blessed Lady hold- 
ing the lifeless body of her Divine Son — a work of art 
presented to Father Bonaventura by the King of Bavaria. 



558 



CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 



The cliurcli was dedicated on the 6th of Septem- 
ber, 1868, by the Most Eev. Archbishop McCloskey. After 
the impressive ceremony, a Solemn High Mass was offered 
by the Rev. Maximus Leimg-ruber of the congregation 
of the Most Holy Redeemer, rector of their church in 
Third Street, assisted by the Rev. Adam Tonner of the 
Chm'ch of St. Nicholas. A sermon in German was de- 
livered by a Capuchin Father. At the close of the holy 
sacrifice, the Most Reverend Archbishop addressed the peo- 
ple in earnest and eloquent words. He congratulated the 
congregation on the completion of the holy Avork in which 
they had been engaged for upwards of a year, under 
the direction of the pious Capuchin Fathers. The chui'ch 
had been dedicated to the Most High, and was no longer 
man's dwelling, but the House of Grod. All had been 
said that required to be said in language that went home 
to the hearts of every one present- — the language in 
which they had learned to pronounce the sacred name 
of Jesus, the language in which they were taught the 
rudiments of their religion, and lisped as children the 
name of Mary. It was not more dear to them now 
that they heard it beneath the beautiful dome of the 
noble edifice in which they were worshiping. No build- 
ing made with hands could lend greater importance to 
the spoken words of truth, but it was a language inex- 
pressibly dear to them, by reason of the hoj)e that it 
gave and the faith it taught. Henceforth the building 



OHUECH OF OUR LADY OF SEVEN DOLORS. 559 

would be a house of prayer, the temple of God, and, 
he hoped, to many thousands of those now walking in 
darkness, the very kingdom of heaven for themselves 
and their children. 

A dense Catholic congregation soon clustered around 
the church, and the reverend founder summoned two 
Fathers from the West to join him in the labors of the 
new German parochial district. 

The establishing of schools was one of the first cares 
of Father Bonaventura. While the church was still heavily 
in debt, it was found impossible to pay the exorbitant 
price demanded for a site required for the schools, so that 
for the time being the basement of the church served 
as class-rooms. 

Father Bonaventura was soon after requested by his 
Grace the Archbishop to assume the direction of the 
Church of St. John the Baptist, and was succeeded at 
Our Lady of the Seven Dolors by the Eev. Father 
Laurentius, Vorwerk, who is at present the zealous pastor. 
He was able to carry out the original design, and at a 
reasonable price purchased ground for the school-houses. 

Under the Rev. Father Ivo Prass, 0. Min. Cap., the 
next pastor, the dome was adorned with paintings of the 
Seven Dolors of the Blessed Virgin, by the artist M. 
Lang ; and he also erected the fine school-house attached 
to the church. This institution now contains tln-ee hun- 
dred and twenty-five boys, under the Brothers of Mary, 



5G0 CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 

and three hundred and fifty girls, who are taught "by 
the Dominican Sisters, who came from Wilhamsburgh. 

The next pastor was the Rev. Father Joseph Pickl, 
a native of Bavaria, born in that CathoHc kingdom on 
the 14th of September, 1846. He was ordained priest by 
the Most Reverend John Martin Henni, D.D., in Mil- 
waukee, on the 7th day of November, 1875 ; and was 
appointed pastor of the Church of our Lady of the 
Seven Dolors in February, 1876. 

Father Pickl was succeeded in 1878 by the present 
pastor, the Rev. P. Laurentius Vorwerk, 0. Min. Cap., who 
thus returned to this parish, where he had already won 
the esteem of all. 



Roll of Honor. 



Mrs. Catherine Stiehler, George Adrian. 



CHURCH OF OUR LADY OF SEVEN DOLORS. 561 



EEV. FATHER P. LAURENTIUS VORWERK, 
O. MIN. CAR, 

SUPEEIOR AT THE CHURCH OF OUE LADY OF THE SEVEN DOLORS. 



THE Reverend Capuchin Father now directing the 
Church of Our Lady of Sorrows is an Ameri- 
can member of the venerable association who direct the 
congregation. 

Father P. Laurentius Vorwerk, 0. Min. Cap., was bom 
in BurHngton, Iowa, on the 15th of August, 1841 ; and, 
resisting the attractions of the world, which appeal so 
strongly to American youth, to each of whom the most 
brilliant future seems easy and possible, this young man 
resolved to give himself to God, and to embrace a life 
of poverty and humility under the rule of St. Francis in 
the habit of the Capuchin Order. After pursuing his 
studies at the Calvary College, Wisconsin, he was ordain- 
ed by Archbishop Henni of Milwaukee, on the 22d of 
May, 1869, and soon showed not only zeal and piety as a 
priest, but abilities of no common order in the adminis- 
tration of affairs. 

He was selected by Very Rev. F. Bonaventura to 
succeed him in the Church of Our Lady of Sorrows, 
but after a time was called away to undertake an im- 
portant work in the Diocese of Milwaukee. The Church 
36 



562 



CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 



of St. Francis, Milwaukee, was a poor frame building, 
no longer adapted to the wants of tlie congregation. 
Father Laurentius soon aroused the zeal and energy of 
the people, and erected a new Byzantine church — one 
of the finest in Wisconsin — after designs by the archi- 
tect, W. Schickel, of New York, with a neat convent 
for the Fathers, and established schools to accommo- 
date the children of the growing congregation. After 
remaining here some time as Gruardian of the Convent 
and pastor of the congregation, he was, in 1878, to the 
regret of his people, called from them to resume his 
more humble labors at the Chm^ch of Our Lady. 

The assistant priests within the last year have been 
Rev. Father Paschalis Straub, 0. Min. Cap. ; Rev. Father 
Bruno Schmitz, 0. Min. Cap. ; and Father Bernardine. 

The zealous Fathers have established the Third . Or- 
der of St. Francis in then- parish, a real religious order, 
with a rule adapted by the seraphic founder himself for 
persons living in the world, and enriched by the Sov- 
ereign Pontiffs with many special favors. The Third 
Order of St. Francis boasts of many saints in all ranks 
and classes, from kings and queens on their thrones to 
the humblest degree in life. There are also in the 
Chm-ch of Our Lady, Rosary and Altar Societies, and 
several approved sodalities. 

To relieve the poor there has been organized a con- 
ference of the excellent Society of St. Vincent de Paul. 



CHURCH OF SAINT PAUL. 

EAST ONE HUNDEED AND SEVENTEENTH STREET, HARLEM. 



FOE many years, as we have seen in these sketches, 
the Cathedral of St. Patrick was the only clim-ch 
north of Canal Street. Some of the priests attached to 
it had to attend all the Catholics scattered in the upper 
part of the island, and along the North River and 
Long Island Sound. Mass was said occasionally in houses 
or barns, where a number could be gathered together ; 
and when a summons came for a priest to attend the sick 
or dying, one would set out, not aided by railroads as 
now, but by such conveyance as he could procure, and 
make his way through snow or storm to the dying 
Catholic. The Cathedral was, in fact, the resource of a 
large rural district, and many of the priests connected 
with it attended Catholics in the upper part of the 
island. Harlem, which from the Dutch times had been 
a hamlet by itself, became a centre where, as population 
increased, the number of Catholics became more apparent. 
Mass was occasionally offered in hired halls or private 
houses till the year 1834, when the Right Reverend 
Bishop Du Bois resolved to establish a church there with 



CHURCH OP ST. PAUL. 565 

a resident priest who could from that centre minister to 
the faithful in various directions. 

He selected for the position the Eev. Michael Cur- 
ran, who had been a zealous laborer in the mountains of 
Pennsylvania, and who had come warmly recommended 
to the Bishop of New York by Prince Dmitri Galitzin. 
One incident recorded by the late Thomas Darcy McGee 
will test show the priest. '' During the cholera of 1832, 
he was called to attend a man and his wife who were at 
the point of death on one of the highest peaks of the 
AUeghanies. Tying his horse to a tree, when he could 
urge him on no further, he climbed on hands and feet 
to the miserable shanty on the summit. Here he found 
the woman lying dead, with an infant sucking at her 
breast ; the man he had barely time to hear and to 
absolve. Taking up the helpless baby, he wrapped it 
in his cloak, and carried it a considerable distance to the 
next habitation. He committed it to the charity of those 
good people, by whom both the parents were interred. 
He retained a watchful care over his orphan for years, 
and when he died, she was a full grown woman in 
Pittsburgh, a credit to her early benefactor." 

Such was the priest commissioned to found a chiu'ch 
at Harlem. A site was soon selected and pm-chased, 
on One Hundred and Seventeenth Street, between Third 
and Fourth Avenues. The corner-stone of the new church 
was laid here on the 29th of June, 1835, by the Right 



566 



CATHOLIC CHUECHES OF NEW YORK. 



Rev. Bishop Du Bois, and an eloquent and appropiiate 
discourse was delivered on the occasion by the Rev. Dr. 
Charles C. Pise. A large quantity of building stone had 
been procured, the plans for the modest Church of St. 
Paul were ready, and an advertisement was at once is- 
sued for proposals for the masonry and carpenter work. 

The church, by the zeal of its pastor, was soon 
completed, and to a great extent paid for. 

It was solemnly dedicated, and soon had a numerous 
attendance. 

From Harlem the pastoral labors of the Rev. Mr. 
Curran extended throughout Westchester and over two- 
thirds of the present Brooklyn diocese. '' Where there 
are now," said Mr. McGee, in 1856, " twenty floimshing 
churches with resident priests, there was then not one. 
Mass was celebrated in private houses, in rented halls, 
and in barns. A numerous dispersed population were to 
be cared for and called in. Mr. Curran's popular man- 
ner, his old-fashioned frankness, his knowledge of the 
Irish tongue, again enabled him to be of the highest 
service." 

The Rev. Mr. Curran remained at St. Paul's till the 
year 1843, when he went to Ireland, and on his return 
founded the church at Astoria, where he died, November 
27, 1856. 

He was succeeded by the Rev. John Walsh, who 
was the zealous pastor of Harlem till 1853, when the 



\ 



CHURCH OF ST. PAUL. 567 

Rev. George R Brophy was appointed, and for thirteen 
years ministered to the Catholics in that district. 

On his retiring- in 1866, the Eev. Eugene Maguire 
was chosen by the Most Eeverend Archbishop, and has 
since directed the church to the satisfaction of all. He 
has been an active and energetic pastor. He introduced 
the Sisters of Charity, for whom he erected a residence. 
He built large and commodious school-houses, and in 
1871 enlarged the church, making it one of the most 
commodious and comfortable in the outer parts of the 
city. The rededication of St. Paul's Clim-ch was per- 
formed on Sunday, the 9th of July, 1871, by the Most 
Reverend Archbishop McCloskey, assisted by many of 
the most eminent clergymen of the diocese, who came 
to honor this restoration of comparatively one of our 
older churches. 

After the ceremony prescribed by the ritual had 
been performed by his Grace, a Solemn High Mass was 
offered by the Very Rev. William Starrs, Vicar General, 
with Rev. Thomas Mooney of St. Bridget's as deacon. 
Rev. H. P. Baxter as subdeacon, and the Rev. Francis 
McNeirny, master of ceremonies. The church was most 
attractive in its new and improved condition: the altar 
was loaded with flowers contributed by the Ladies of 
the Sacred Heart, Manhattanville. The music, a mass by 
Bernardi, was rendered with great skill, under the direc- 
tion of Dr. Daly, the accomplished organist. 



568 CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 

The sermon was preached by the Rev. Mr. O'Far- 
rell of St. Peter's Church, his text being from the Apo- 
calypse (xx. 2). Before giving his episcopal benediction, 
his Grrace also addressed the multitude, who filled the 
church, congratulating them on the improvement of their 
edifice, and the general zeal manifested in the spiritual 
growth of the parish. 

The parish of St. Paul's has several sodalities and 
a flourishing rosary society amongst its members, while 
the altar shows the zeal of the ladies of the society 
devoted to its care and adornment. There is a well- 
sustained temperance society, and the conference of the 
Society of St. Vincent de Paul is well organized and 
active. 

The schools, under the care of the Sisters of Charity, 
number about nine hundred children. 



CHUECH OF ST. PAUL. 569 



EEV. EUGENE MAGUIRE, 

PASTOR OF THE CHUECH OF ST. PAUL, HAELEM. 



WE regret deeply our inability to ascertain the 
time and place of the birth, or any particu- 
lars of the early life of one of the oldest clergymen 
connected with the Catholic churches in New York City, 
who has labored steadily in the diocese, from his ordi- 
nation, in city parishes and in rural districts, for more 
than a quarter of a century. 

He was educated for the priesthood at St. Joseph's 
Seminary, Fordham, and was ordained by the Eight 
Reverend Bishop Hughes on the 30th of May, 1847. 

His first appointment was that of assistant in the 
large parish of St. James, Brooklyn, since the cathedral 
parish of that episcopal city. In 1848, the Rev. Mr. 
Higgins, of Westchester, being compelled to seek a tem- 
porary respite on account of ill health, the Rev. Mr. 
Maguire was sent to St. Raymond's Chiu-ch, assuming 
charge also of the congregation at Throgg's Neck. He 
remained as permanent pastor till the year 1853, when 
he was made parish priest of St. Mary's Church at 
Rondout. 

After a short stay at that point he was transferred 



570 CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 

to the Church of the Immaculate Conception at Yon- 
kers, where he continued during the year 1854 and the 
following year. He has since been connected with 
churches within the limits of the city, so that he is 
well and widely known. In 1857, he was assistant at 
St. Joseph's Church on Sixth Avenue ; from 1858 to 
1862, at the Church of the Immaculate Conception in 
Fourteenth Street; from 1862 to 1866, at St. Patrick's 
Cathedral. 

From the last date he has been pastor of St. Paul's 
Church at Harlem, a period of twelve years. 

The improvements in the church, and the flourishing 
state of the society connected with the church, show 
that his ministry has not been a barren one. 



CHURCH OF ST. PAUL. 



571 



Roll of Honor, 



Barry, John. 
Berney, Patrick, Mrs. 
Bissicks, Joseph. 
Blundel, Fanny, Mrs. 
Boyland, James. 
Breslin, Patrick. 
Buggy, John. 
Burke, Michael. 
Byrnes, William. 
Carey, Peter C. 
Carson, James. 
Coates, W. J. 
Coffey, Thomas. 
Coman, John M. 
Connell, Hugh G. 
Connolly, John H. 
Conyngham, Daniel. 
Coogan, Hugh. 
Coyle, Elizabeth, Mrs. 
Cronin, Patrick. 
Crowley, James. 
Cullen, John. 
Daly, Lawrence. 
Davin, Norah. 
Deady, Daniel C. 
Dealy, William J. 
Dobbins, James. 
Dobbins, John. 
Dolan, Stephen. 
Donethy, John. 
Donohue, Patrick. 
Donovan, Timothy. 
Duffy, Constantine. 
Dunn, Thomas. 
Dwyer, John. 
Edwards, John. 
Falvey, Dennis. 
Farrell, Andrew F. 



Farrell, Thomas. 
Farrelly, James. 
Ferrigan, Patrick F. 
Flynn, James S. 
Fox, Michael. 
Gaffney, James H. 
Ge'aron, Michael. 
Gilligan, Patrick. 
Green, Maggie. 
Halloran, John. 
Halpin, John. 
Halpin, Thomas. 
Harney, Thomas. 
Hayes, Thomas F. 
Hays, Daniel. 
Heffernan, Joseph. 
Heffernan, Rodger. 
Hickey, John. 
Higgins, Jeremiah. 
Hogan, William F. 
Holland, Edward. 
Hughes, James. 
Hughes, Matthew. 
Hughes, William. 
Keegan, James. 
Kehoe, James. 
Kelly, Bernard. 
Kelly, Edward E. 
Kelly, James. 
Lally, John M. 
Lalor, James F. 
Lalor, Julia A., Mrs. 
Lalor, Patrick H. 
Lambert, Charles. 
Laughlin, Daniel. 
Leddy, Timothy. 
Lennon, Thomas. 
McCann, Margaret. 



McCarthy, Eugene, Mrs. 
McCue, Magdalena. 
McGinnis, Robert. 
McGowan, M. Milmo. 
McGuire, Henry. 
McGuire, Patrick. 
McNamee, John. 
McParlan, Thomas. 
McSorley, John A. 
Madden, John. 
Meehan, John. 
Miller, John R. 
Molly, William. 
Moore, James. 
Moore, John. 
Mullen, Thomas. 
Murray, John. 
Nagle, William. 
Nevins, Patrick. 
Nolan, John. 
Norris, James. 
O'Brien, John. 
O'Donnell, Edmund B. 
O'Kane, Peter. 
O'Reilly, Dominick. 
Point, Emanuel. 
Quigley, Daniel J. 
Regan, Daniel. 
Regan, James. 
Reilly, John. 
Royston, Joshua T. 
Ryan, Patrick. 
Shandley, Christopher. 
Slavin* Daniel. 
Sullivan, John. 
Sullivan, Michael. 
Walsh, James. 
Weston, Cornelius. 




CHURCH OF SAINT PAUL THE APOSTLE. 

WEST FIFTY-NINTH STREET. 



CHURCH OF SAINT PAUL THE APOSTLE. 

WEST FIFTY-NINTH STREET, NEAR NINTH AVENUE. 



ONE of the best known of our city churclies is 
that of the so-called Paulist Fathers, erected 
under the title of "St. Paul the Apostle," situated on 
the block fronting Ninth Avenue, between Fifty-ninth and 
Sixtieth Streets. The original church no longer exists; 
it having comprised the two lower stories of the build- 
ing now wholly occupied by the Fathers as a convent, 
the corner-stone of which was laid by the Most Rev. 
Archbishop Hughes, on Trinity Sunday, June 19th, 1859, 
and formally opened and blessed for divine worship by 
the Very Rev. William Starrs, Vicar Greneral, on the 
first Sunday of Advent, November 27th of the same 
year. This building was twice enlarged to accommodate 
the rapidly increasing number of parishioners, the first 
addition being made in 1861, and the second in 1865. 
Thus enlarged, the seat accommodation amounted to 
thirteen hundred. The parochial limits assigned to this 
church at its opening were widely extended, embracing 
all the upper part of the city on the west side from 
Fifty-second Street to Manhattanville, and from Sixth 
Avenue to the North River. The Catholic population at 



574 CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 

• 

the time was, however, small, and the Missionary Fathers 
who made it their headquarters had to collect funds all 
over the country to enable them to erect their convent 
and temporary church. 

About the year 1866, the parishioners living between 
this church and Manhattanville secured for themselves a 
site for a new church, and the present Chiu'ch of the 
Holy Name of Jesus, situated at the junction of the 
Boulevard and Ninety-seventh Street, was built, and 
given in charge of the Rev. Richard Brennan, formerly 
pastor at Port Jervis. The line of division between this 
new parish and that of the Paulist Fathers was placed 
at Seventy-fifth Street. In the year 1876, another new 
parish was formed by his Eminence the Cardinal Arch- 
bishop McCloskey, and tlie present Church of the Sacred 
Heart, situated in Fifty-first Street, was opened. To 
form the parish limits of this latter church, the parish 
of the Paulist Fathers was again curtailed, and the line 
of division on the south was placed at Fifty-fom'th 
Street. The portion thus cut off contained about one- 
third of the whole number of parishioners attached to 
the Church of St. Paul the Apostle. In the present 
year (1878), the number of souls in the parish is esti- 
mated at six thousand five hundred. 

The chm'ch now used for divine worship is a 
temporary wooden structm-e, one hundi-ed feet square, 
facing on Sixtieth Street, between Ninth and Tenth Ave- 



CHUKOH OF ST. PAUL THE APOSTLE. 575 

nues, opened for use on January 25tli, 1877. Its seating 
capacity is one thousand, but the wide aisles left unoc- 
cupied by pews give standing room for almost as many 
more. An unusual proportion of the room is occupied 
by the sanctuary, it being twenty-five feet wide and 
extending across the whole building, one hundred feet. 
The use of so much room is demanded by the choral 
arrangements and the imposing ritual ceremonies for 
wliich this church has always been remarkable, and par- 
ticularly so since the year 1870, when the Gregorian 
Chant was adopted by the Fathers as the ruling melody 
for all their church services. In the centre of the 
sanctuary stands the high altar, flanked on either side by 
four rows of black-walnut choir stalls. On the left 
stands the altar of the Blessed Virgin and slu-ine of the 
Sacred Heart. On the right is the organ, in front of 
which are the altars of St. Joseph and St. Justinus the 
Martyr, and shrine of Our Lady of Lourdes. Three 
lamps are kept perpetually burning — one before the Blessed 
Sacrament, another before the shrine of the Sacred Heart, 
and a third before the altar of St. Justinus, under which 
repose the relics of that martyr, exhumed from the cata- 
combs. From the time of the erection of the shrine of 
Our Lady of Lom-des, December 8th, 1874, the people 
have continued to exhibit very great devotion to it — by 
prayers said before it, and by the offering of votive wax 
tapers, which are to be seen burning there every day in 



576 CATHOLIC CHUECHES OF NEW YORK. 

the year. There are, perhaps, but few churches in the 
United States, or even in Europe, where the ceremonial 
of the sacred rites of the Cathohc Church are more 
strictly observed or more decorously performed than in 
this unpretentious edifice. Indeed, it is a special point 
of the rule of the Paulist community, that in all churches 
over which they may have control, the Roman ritual 
shall be observed to the very letter. 

Between the present temporary church and Ninth 
Avenue, a new church of vast proportions is ah-eady 
being built. The walls of the basement are now finished 
to the height of twenty feet. Its general dimensions are 
as follows : — 

Total length, 284 feet; total width, 128 feet; length 
of nave and aisles, 178 feet; width of the nave, 60 
feet ; width of the aisles, each 1 feet ; twelve side 
chapels, each 12 by 20 feet ; chapel of the Blessed 
Virgin, 25 by 20 feet ; chapel of St. Joseph, 25 by 
20 feet ; width and depth of the sanctuary, 60 feet ; two 
towers, each 300 feet. Capacity, seats for 2,600 persons 
and standing room for 1,500 more. The great sanctuary 
will contain choir stalls for 120 clergy and senior chor- 
isters, and for 200 boy choristers. There are to be 
twelve or more confessionals, where confessions will be 
heard every day. The architect is Mr. Jeremiah 
O'Rourke of Newark, New Jersey. The designs show a 
building of massive and imposing proportions, but plain 



CHUECH OF ST. PAUL THE APOSTLE. 577 

and very sparing of expensive ornamental work on tlie 
exterior. 

On the 20tli of February, 1875, the Holy Father 
Pope Pius IX. was graciously pleased to bestow liis 
apostolic benediction upon the Paulist Fathers, and also 
upon all who should contribute towards the building of 
their new church. The ceremony of the solemn bless- 
ing and laying of the first stone of this magnificent struc- 
ture took place on the feast of Pentecost, June 4th, 
1876, in presence of a vast multitude of people, num- 
bering over eleven thousand five hundred, as was ascer- 
tained by actual count ; each person being presented with 
a small tract descriptive of the new church, as they ap- 
proached by the different avenues and streets leading to 
the place. The ceremony was performed by the Et. 
Rev. Michael A. Corrigan, D.D., Bishop of Newark, and 
the sermon was preached by the Rev. J. L. Spalding, 
D.D., now the Bishop of Peoria. 

The founders of the Church of St. Paul the Apostle 

were the Rev. Fathers Isaac T. Hecker, Augustine F. 

Hewit, George Deshon, and Francis A. Baker, who, by 

decree of the Holy Father Pope Pius IX., bearing date 

March 6th, 1858, were permitted to leave the congregation 

of the Most Holy Redeemer, of which they had been 

members, in order that they might be at liberty to form a 

new congregation of Missionary Priests, of which the Rev. 

Father Hecker was elected superior, and became the first 
37 



578 



CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 



pastor of tlie cliurcli, which received the same name as 
that of tlieir rehgious community. Being the first com- 
munity of Missionary Priests founded in the United 
States, and all its originators being native born Ameri- 
cans, few places may be said to possess more interest 
for American Catholics than the Church and Community 
of St. Paul the Apostle. The labors of Father Hecker 
and his associates are widely known and justly appreciated, 
and have made their mark in the history of the Catho- 
lic Church of the United States. Their missions, lectures, 
publications, and other works, have brought them most 
prominently before the American people. The Catholic 
World magazine, which they created and have sustained 
for so many years, has worthily obtained a high place 
among the periodicals of this country and Em-ope, and, 
together with their other literary labors, has helped most 
signally to elevate the tone of Catholic literature, and to 
command the respect of all classes for the faith of which 
they have been such zealous and enlightened exponents. 



CHURCH OF ST. PAUL THE APOSTLE. 579 

REV. ISAAC T. HECKER, C.S.R, 

PASTOR OF THE CHURCH OF ST. PAUL THE APOSTLE. 



A 



MONGr the remarkable and representative Catliolic 
clergymen of New York City will ever be nmii- 
bered the Rev. Isaac T. Hecker, who has endowed the 
Chm'ch in the United States with a new congregation of 
Missionary Priests, sanctioned by the Ai'chbishop of New 
York with the permission of the Holy See, and with a 
rule especially adapted to the work before the Church in 
this country. 

Few of the clergy in this country are so thoroughly 
conscious of the tone and tendency of American thought, 
of the aspirations and aims of the active American mind, 
have built greater hopes on all that is true and noble 
in it, or labored more earnestl}^ to dispel the mists of 
error that encircle it and lead it to the truth. 

He is a native of New York City, born here in 
1819. His education was received in the schools of his 
day to fit him for the mercantile life in which his 
brothers had embarked, and were acquiring wealth and 
esteem by the perfection of their flour mills, and the 
high business character they established. But it was 
soon evident that a life of study rather than a mercan- 
tile life Avas congenial to Isaac. In the summer of 1843, 



580 CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 

led, as many American tliinkers were, to embrace tlie 
new social ideas promulgated in France, he joined the 
Association for Agricultm:e and Education at Brook Farm, 
West Roxbury, Mass., and at a later date took j)art in 
a similar organization at Worcester, Mass. 

His mind was too clear not to perceive, in a very 
brief trial, that these systems furnished only husks for 
the cravings of the human mind, and gave it no sub- 
stantial aliment. On his return to New York, his exam- 
ination of Catholic doctrines and principles led him to 
accept them, and in 1845 he was received into the Church. 

He was by nature one to diffuse his ideas, and to 
influence others. The ministry seemed naturally his place. 
The congregation of Missionary Priests of the Most Holy 
Redeemer, founded by St. Alphonsus Liguori, as he beheld 
it here, seemed to him one to which he was called. He 
went to Europe, was received as a novice at St. Trond, 
in Belgium, in 1847. After passing his novitiate and a 
course of theological study, he was sent by his superiors 
to England, where, in 1849, he was raised to the priest- 
hood by the late Cardinal Wiseman. Two years were 
then spent in missionary duty in England, but in 1851 
he returned to this country with several other American 
members of the congregation, and took his place among 
the Redemptorist Fathers laboring in the United States, 
but hitherto almost exclusively among the German element. 
For seven years Father Hecker was a zealous missionary, 



CHURCH OF ST. PAUL THE APOSTLE. 



581 



employed in various parts of the country among the En- 
glish-speaking Catholics. But certain obstacles in the way 
of these English missions made him anxious to secure 
the means of prosecuting them more effectually. 

With this view, Father Hecker, in 1*857, visited Rome, 
and at length, his case was laid before the Holy Father 
himself for his supreme adjudication. The result was that 
the connection of Father Hecker and his companions with 
the congregation of the Most Holy Eedeemer ceased, and 
they formed a new missionary society, under the name 
of the Congregation of St. Paul the Apostle. Establishing 
themselves in New York, with the approval and encour- 
agement of the Most Reverend Archbishop Hughes, they 
commenced a church and convent at the corner of Ninth 
Avenue and Fifty-ninth Street. Besides the care of the 
congregation which at once filled their temporary chui-ch, 
the Fathers of the new congregation began to give 
missions in churches throughout the country, producing 
great good. 

Father Hecker, in 1855, issued a work entitled 
" Questions of the Soul," followed two years later by the 
"Aspirations of Nature," both adapted to the vast num- 
ber of Americans who have cut themselves loose from all 
the systems engendered by the Protestant Reformation 
and reached the plane of naturalism. In Rome he pub- 
lished two essays on Catholicity in the United States, 
which were translated into several languages. 



582 CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 

The need of a Catliolic periodical of high character, 
taking a jDosition between the review and the popular 
magazine, led to the establishment of the Catliolic World, 
which has so met the wants of the whole body of the 
faithful that it has reached its twenty-seventh volume, 
and done immense service in elevating the thought, culture, 
and literary taste of the community. 

The establishment of a Catholic Publication Society 
was another work of Father Hecker's. The issue of 
tracts and treatises in a cheap form was one of its main 
objects, but though this sj^stem seems to never become 
popular among Catholics, the society has been the medium 
of issuing many valuable works. 

In the ecclesiastical affairs of the country, Father 
Hecker has appeared prominently. He attended the Sec- 
ond Plenary Council of Baltimore as Superior of the 
Missionary Priests of St. Paul the Apostle, and was made 
Vicegerens of the Second Congregation on the Hierarchy 
and Grovernment of the Church, and the Education and 
Pious Training of Youth. He delivered a sermon before 
the Fathers of the Council on the Future Triumphs of 
the Church. 

He subsequently took part in the Third Diocesan 
Synod of New York, held in September, 1868. 

He was at Rome during the sessions of the Vatican 
Council, and caused to be written for the Catliolic World 
a series of excellent papers on its proceedings. 



CHURCH OF ST. PAUL THE 


APOSTLE. 583 


Within the 


last few years his 


health has been se- 


riously affected. 


He went to Europe to obtain advice, 1 


but lie has not 


entirely recovered, 


and his comparative 


retirement from 


his useful and pious < 


3areer is a subject of 


general regret. 


His frank, clear, pronounced, and sound 1 


views are missed alike in the councils of his Eminence, 


in the pulpit, and in the field of Catholic literature ; but 


we trust only for a brief time. 




Roll of H 


ONOR. 


Arrieta, Perquillo. 


Cassidy, William. 


Devlin, James. 


Behaii, John. 


Cleary, William. 


Dolan, Francis. 


Black, Thomas. 


Connolly, Alice, Mrs. 


Donohue, Margaret, Mrs. 


Braden, John. 


Connolly, Kate. 


Donohue, Michael. 


Brennan, Thomas. 


Connor, William. 


Dowling, Thomas A. 


Brown, Joanna. 


Conway, Rose, Mrs. 


Down, Frederick J. 


Browne, WilHam. 


Corblis, John. 


Doyle, Mary. 


Buckley, Martin. 


Cosgrove, James C. 


Ducey, John, Mrs. 


Butler, M., Mrs. 


Curley, Edward J. 


Duffy, Bernard C. 


Byrnes, Matthew. 


Curnen, Annie T. 


Duffy, Frank. 


Byrnes, Patrick J. 


Curtin, John. 


Dwyer, John. 


Callaghan, Patrick. 


Cosgrove, James C. 


Eagan, Edward. 


Carey, Francis. 


Daly, Eliza, Mrs. 


Eagen, Patrick. 


Carolin, James. 


Daly, Joanna, Mrs. 


Farley, Kate, Mrs. 


Carroll, James. 


Danvers, Robert E. 


Farrell, Mary. 


Carroll, John, 


Daskam, Eliza Sisk. 


Farrell, Michael. 


Carroll, Mary. 


Delany, Andrew. 


Feeley, Michael M. 


Casey, Patrick. 


Dempsey, Thomas. 


Field, William H. 


Cassidy, James. 


Devine, Matthew J. 


Firman, Francis. 



584 



CATHOLIC CHUHCHES OF NEW YORK. 



Furey, John. 
Gallagher, Michael. 
Golding, Patrick. 
Goodwin, John J. 
Gordon, Edward. 
Gordon, Edward P. 
Gprmley, Patrick. 
Grant, John. 
Guion, William H. 
Harlin, John. 
Harold, John. 
Hassell, Samuel. 
Healy, John W. 
Hecker, George V. 
Heimbuch, Rosina. 
Henry, John. 
Hicks, Michael. 
Hogan, Ellen. 
Horgan, J. J. 
Hughes, George W. 
Jetter & Dux. 
Kane, Alice, Mrs. 
Kane, Cornelius J. 
Kearney, Peter. 
Kearney, William, Mrs. 
Kearns, T. J. 
Kelly, Charles. 
Kelly, Frank A. 
Kennedy, John. 
Kitson, Henry, Mrs. 
Leonard, Terence. 
Lynch, Edward. 
Lyons, Edmond. 
McArdle, Henry. 
McAuley, Margaret, Mrs. 
McAvoy, James E. 
McCarthy, John. 



McCue, John. 
McDermott, Michael. 
McDonnell, Patrick. 
McGowan, Michael. 
McKenna, Michael J. 
McKenney, Thomas. 
McKeon, John. 
McMaster, James A. 
McNeimy,James L., Mrs-., 
Mackey, John. 
Maginn, P. F. 
Malone, Andrew. 
Martin, Francis. 
Martin, Thomas. 
Masterson, John H. 
Masterson, Mary, Mrs. 
Mathews, Arthur. 
Milleman, David. 
Mesigh, Catharine, Mrs. 
Monks, John. 
Moore, James. 
Morgan, John. 
Morgan, P., Mrs. 
Morrissey, Lawrence. 
Muldoon, Silvester. 
Mulligan, Patrick J. 
Murphy, James. 
Murphy, John. 
Murray, James B. 
Murray, Patrick. 
Noonan, Alice, Mrs. 
O'Brien, Francis. 
O'Brien, Thomas. 
O'Callahan, Thomas, 
O'Farrell, Catharine, Mrs. 
O'Hara, James. 
O'Neil, Charles. 



O'Reilly, Patrick. 
Phelan, Mary Ann. 
Power, Maurice W. 
Pryor, James. 
Raborg, Samuel A. 
Redmond, David. 
Richardson, John W. 
Riley, Thomas. 
Robinson, George B. 
Rogan, James H. 
Rogers, Hugh J. 
Russell, Michael. 
Ryan, James. 
Ryan, Joseph P. 
Savage, Sarah A. 
Scanlan, Honorah. 
Scanlan, M. 
Shannon, John. 
Shannon, Thomas. 
McNamara, Michael J. 
Skelly, William. 
Slattery, James. 
Smith, Michael. 
Spaulding, Ellen, Mrs. 
Spencer, John Campbell. 
Sprague, Henry E. 
Stafford, Maurice. 
Tallon, James and Susan. 
Taylor, George H. 
Temperly, John. 
Thornton, Rachel, Mrs. 
Travers, Frank. 
Travers, Vincent P. 
Vought, William H. 
Winston, J. 
Wagner, Harrison. 
Whitty, Robert. 




CHURCH OF SAINT PETEE. 

BARCLAY STREET. 



CHURCH OF SAINT PETER. 



BARCLAY STREET. 



ON the 23d of November, 1783, tte City of New 
York was evacuated by tlie last Englisli army, 
and it was able to enjoy tbe freedom pm.'cliased by seven 
years of war and sacrifices. It was by no means a 
large town. Murray Street was its northern limit, and 
the ruins of many public and private buildings destroyed 
in the great fire of 1776 still disfigured the place. For 
its twenty thousand people there were nine churches fit 
for use ; but of these nine, the few Catholics could not 
claim one. Yet they were fi'ee : the ^dctorious army 
had its Catholic officers and soldiers ; Catholic ministers 
of foreign countries, following the lead of La Luzerne, 
the envoy of France, entered the city. In the follow- 
ing year the Continental Congress, which included some 
Catholic members, held its sessions in New York ; and 
after the adoption of the Constitution the new Congress 
met here till 1790, and during that period it was the 
residence of the President and of all the foreign min- 



isters. 



No sooner was the island free from the British than 



CHURCH OF ST. PETER. 587 

Father Farmer made his way into New York, extending 
his mission tour as far as P^^ekskill, in December, 1783. 
The Catholics in the city endeavored to secure a suit- 
able hall for a chapel, but this proved impracticable ; 
the authorities would not grant a room in the Exchange, 
when requested by the French Consul in 1785, and there 
was no hall to be hired. So Father Farmer said mass 
for his flock where he could : now in a house in Water 
Street; in a carpenter's shop in Barclay Street — the old 
Italian gentleman, Mr. Trapani, we knew in our youth, 
who heard mass there, is still vivid in our recollection ; — 
in the house in Vauxhall Gardens, near Warren Street ; 
wherever, in fact, they could get or hire accommoda- 
tion for the moment. In 1785, the room they occupied 
was, an Italian traveler tells us, far from becoming the 
noblest worship ever offered by man to his Creator; but 
the papers of the day tell us that they met at times 
that year in the house of Don Diego de Gardoqui, on 
Broadway, near Bowling Green — the truly Catholic am- 
bassador of the Catholic king. 

The faithful in the city, long deprived of all the 
influence of the Church, were deeply imbued with many 
of the prevailing Protestant ideas, and adopted their sys- 
tem of church organization. The little Catholic commu- 
nity, without priest or altar, organized as a congrega- 
tion, and, without consulting or recognizing ecclesiastical 
authority, on the 11th of June, 1785, incorporated St. 



I' 



588 CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 

Peter's Church, under a general act passed by the State 
Legislature, April 6, 1784. St. John de Crevecoeur, 
Consul General of France ; Jose Roiz Silva, John Stew- 
art, and Henry Duffin, were named as the first trustees. 
An Irish Capuchin Father, the Rev. Charles Whelan, 
who had, as a chaplain in De Grasse's fleet, seen the 
overthrow of Cornwallis, and subsequently been taken 
prisoner, came to New York in 1784, with letters from 
Lafayette, and, doubtless, from his admiral. The Rev. 
John Carroll, then Prefect Apostolic of the Catholics in 
the United States, after some hesitation, gave him facul- 
ties. The venerable Father Farmer, soon to close his own 
career of mission labor, was among the congregation he 
had collected in New York, in November, 1784, and in 
April, 1785, and continued a supervision over the flock 
till his death. The first pastor of the Catholic body in 
New York was a priest of blameless life, fitted by edu- 
cation for his position, with no little dry wit ; but he 
was not an eloquent preacher, and his long residence in 
France had made the language of that country more 
ready to him than his own. Unfortunately, though he 
could find only twenty communicants, he found many 
noisy people who wished a thundering preacher rather 
than a good confessor. In fact, most of them, from want 
of opportunity to practice their religion, were in tht 
greatest ignorance of their faith and obligations. During 
his brief pastoral charge, the trustees of St. Peter's, after 



CHURCH OF ST. PETER. 589 

several ineilfectual attempts elsewhere, purcliased of Trin- 
ity Chui'cli, ill the winter of 1785, a plot of ground on 
the corner of Barclay and Church Streets, mainly, it 
would seem, under the advice of Mr. Silva. Don Diego 
de Gardoqui, the Spanish minister, was the greatest sup- 
port of this attempt. He interested his royal master, 
who allotted a considerable sum to aid in erecting New 
York's first Catholic chm'ch; and when the ground was 
prepared for the laying of the corner-stone, that ceremony 
was performed by the Spanish minister, no mention being 
made of the presence of a clergyman or the ceremo- 
nial prescribed by the Roman ritual. The event took 
place on the 4th of November, 1785, the feast of St. 
Charles Borromeo, patron of Charles IV., King of Spain, 
and on that day mass was said at the house of the 
representative of his Catholic Majesty. 

The venerable John Carroll, as Prefect Apostolic, vis- 
ited New York in 1785, to administer the sacrament of 
confirmation for the first time on our island. He was 
deeply interested in the projected church, and employed 
the authority conferred upon him, as well as his personal 
influence, to unite the flock to their pastor, but found, even 
at that early day, in some of the trustees a very defiant 
spirit. At the time of the laying of the corner-stone he 
was invited to visit New York and perform the cere- 
mony, but was then at too great a distance on oflicial 
duty. 



590 CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 

During the year, the Catholics of New York, for the 
first time, enjoyed the spiritual advantage of a jubilee, 
that of 1776 having been specially extended to the United 
States for a definite period. It was now duly published 
in the temporary Church of St. Peter. 

The work on the new church advanced, and was so 
far completed during the year 1786 that the Holy Sac- 
rifice was offered for the first time, in October, by the 
Rev. Andrew Nugent, a Capuchin, who had an'ived, but 
to whom the Rev. Mr. Carroll had been unable to give 
faculties. He was now alone at New York, Father "VVhelan 
having retired February 12th, 1786, in consequence of 
the violence of the trustees and the intrigues of Father 
Nugent. 

The church, described by an Italian traveler as a 
handsome structure, was built of brick, and was forty- 
eight feet in front by eighty-one deep ; but there was 
yet no vestry, portico in front, or even pews within. 

The erection of the church was a matter of triumph. 
It was the first Catholic church erected and opened after 
the United States achieved their independence and took 
their place among the nations of the earth. Dr. Carroll 
communicated to the authorities at Rome the consoling 
intelligence, and asked apparently to be empowered to 
consecrate it, as the answer was given that such a power 
was rarely if ever communicated to any one not a 
bishop. 



CHURCH OF ST. PETER. 



591 



The congregation, whose trustees siding with Nugent 
had driven from the church the worthy Father Whelan, 
soon made such repeated complaints against the miscon- 
duct of the priest whom tliey had upheld against the 
authority of the prefect, that Dr. Carroll found it neces- 
sary to come to New York, in October, 1787. 

An examination on the spot made him feel it his 
duty to annul Father Nugent's faculties, and, on his re- 
sistance, to suspend him. The misguided priest would not 
yield. lie held possession of St. Peter's Church, and re- 
fused to submit. He went to such lengths that the con- 
gregation laid the matter before the Grand Juiy, and he 
was found guilty of riot. " His counsel pleaded that, being 
the lawful pastor, he could not be guilty of a riot, in 
going to take possession of his church; that the person 
who deposed him received his jurisdiction from the Pope ; 
that is a juiisdiction contrary to the laws of New York. 
This plea was overruled, and verdict given against him." 
In a touching address, full of sound and correct princi- 
ples, which he endeavored to impress on the congrega- 
tion and its leaders. Dr. Carroll announced the appoint- 
ment, as pastor, of the Rev. William O'Brien, a zealous 
and talented Dominican Father. 

This worthy priest Avas the first to organize the con- 
gregation of St. Peter's, and instill sound principles and 
gradually bring all to the practice of their religion. 
The Catholic Church at the capital of the United States 



N 



592 



CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 



could thus present to tlie whole community a picture of 
imity, piety, and respect for their own ecclesiastical system. 
This was all the more necessary as the adoption of the 
Constitution and the inauguration of the new form of 
government were to make New York even more impor- 
tant than before. 

In April, 1789, Greorge Washington was inaugurated 
President of the United States, and the First Congress 
held its sessions in New York. Then in St. Peter's 
Church could be seen among the congregation the Count 
de Moustier, Minister of France; Don Diego de Gardoqui, 
the Spanish Minister ; Hector St. Jean de Crevecceur, 
French Consul General, author of the " Letters of an 
American Farmer;" Thomas Stoughton, Spanish Consul; 
Charles Carroll of CarroUton, Daniel Carroll, Thomas 
Fitzsimmons, JEdanus Burke, the learned judge, all Sen- 
ators or Representatives in Congress ; the Marchioness 
de Brehan, and many a person of distinction. 

But with all the lustre given by such personages 
and their contributions, St. Peter's was in a struggling 
condition. Father William O'Brien, who had been a 
classmate of the Archbishop of Mexico, resolved to visit 
the Spanish Provinces and endeavor to collect there 
from the generous Catholic people the funds required. 
At the request of Bishop Carroll, Don Diego de Gar- 
doqui give him letters, and Father O'Brien collected five 
thousand nine hundred and twenty dollars in Mexico. 



CHURCH OF ST. PETER. 593 

He brought also several beautiful paintings by artists of 
the Mexican school that the world is just beginning to 
appreciate. A Crucifixion of remarkable power and beauty, 
the work of Jose Maria Vallejo, a celebrated Mexican 
painter, is still the altar-piece at St. Peter's. 

Father O'Brien, whose assistant, the Rev. Nicholas 
Boui'ke, had acted during his absence, returned to find 
a new and terrible work before him. In 1795, the city 
was swept by that fearful scourge the yellow fever. 
Hundreds perished, and the city was almost deserted by 
the inhabitants. Though some precautions were taken, it 
made still greater ravages in 1798, and visited the city 
in 1799, 1801, and 1805. While clergymen of other de- 
nominations fled, Father William O'Brien remained at his 
post, hastening at the first call to the bedside of the 
dying, even in the most infected and dangerous parts of 
the city. This heroic conduct impressed all classes, and, 
there can be no doubt, excited the respect of the great 
physician, Dr. Richard Bayley, who bravely risked his 
life to study and if possible check the disease. But he 
could not have foreseen that his daughter was to found 
a sisterhood in the Catholic Church which would give 
its martyrs on similar fields, or that his grandson would 
one day fill the chair of Bishop Carroll. 

The exhausting work told on Father O'Brien, and 

the next year the congregation appealed to the Bishop 

for an assistant; but there was no permanent appoint- 
38 



594 



CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YOKK. 



ment, altliougli several priests were temporarily in tlie 
church. 

Meanwhile the completion of the chui*ch advanced, 
and on Easter Monday, 1794, the first salo of pews took 
place, and all who could afford it purchased pews, pay- 
ing a sum down for them, and afterwards an annual 
ground rent. Speculation was prevented by a clause, 
" That any person that shall he known to let his pew 
for more than the just value, according to the yearly 
rent, shall be dispossessed of it, or fined as a trafficker 
in the church, the fine to be given to the poor." 

The yellow fever not only swept away many of the 
Catholic body, especially of the poorer classes, but de- 
teiTed others from settling in New York. Among the 
more important Catholics who died during the visitations 
of the yellow fever were the Marquis de Lotbiniere and 
the accomplished Italian physician Dr. Gianbattista Scan- 
della. 

In 1796, burial in the ground near the church was 
restricted to those who paid four dollars a year to the 
church, and were registered as members. 

In 1800, the pastor of St. -Peter's, whom the Bishop 
had strongly ui*ged to do all in his power for the proper 
education of the Catholic childi'en, and their catechetical 
instruction, succeeded in establishing St. Peter's Free 
School, now one of the oldest establishments of the kind 
in the city, outdating by years any erected by city or 



,^ CHURCH OF ST. PETER. 595 

State autliority. It soon numbered five liundred pupils, 
and in its existence of more than three-quarters of a 
century has conferred the boon of CathoHc education on 
many thousands. 

Of the state of the church in 1800 we have some 
details. The debt was six thousand five hundred dollars; 
the income from pew rents, eleven hundred and twenty 
dollars, while the collections were only about three hundi'ed 
and sixty dollars a year. 

In 1804, St. Peter's was again visited by the Right 
Rev. Dr. Carroll, and about this time Father William 
O'Brien received assistants. The Rev. Dr. Matthew O'Brien, 
also a Dominican, who had acquired a reputation as an elo- 
quent preacher, and even issued a volume of sermons in 
Ireland, came in 1803. The Rev. Dr. Cafirey was also at 
St. Peter's about this time, as was the Rev. John Byrne, an 
eloquent and energetic man, and the Rev. Michael Hurley 
of the Order of St. Augustine. 

Among the consoling events during this year was the 
reception into the bosom of Catholicity of Elizabeth Bay- 
ley Seton, who, after long and serious examination and 
prayer, received her final instructions from Dr. O'Brien, 
and made her abjuration in St. Peter's Church, on Ash 
Wednesday, March 14th, 1805, and was confirmed in the 
same church on the 26th of May in the following year. 

Of Father O'Brien and the priests in the city during 
the yellow fever of 1805, Hardie, an early historian of 



J 



596 CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 

New York says: "The three clergymen of the Roman 
Catholic Church, namely, the Rev. Dr. William O'Brien, the 
Rev. Dr. Matthew O'Brien, and the Rev. Mr. Hurley, were 
incessant in administering spiritual consolation to the sick 
of their congregation, nor did they in the discharge of 
this duty avoid the most filthy cellars or most infected 
places ; yet none of them was in the least infected with 
fever during the season." 

In the following year, Father William O'Brien became 
too infirm to continue his parochial duties ; Rev. Mr. 
Byrne went to Albany, and subsequently left the country. 
The Rev. Matthias Kelly was made assistant in 1806, but 
was removed after little more than a year's service at 
the church, as was also Dr. Matthew O'Brien. 

The trustees meanwhile showed activity, and for the 
first time appeared in the hall of the New York Legis- 
lature. A Catholic, Francis Cooper, Esq., had been elected 
to the Assembly, but was met by an oath which no 
Catholic could take. A petition was drawn up by the 
trustees of St. Peter's, to which thirteen hundred names 
were soon appended, asking the abolition of an oath so 
vitally opposed to American principles. They also applied 
for a portion of the school money proportioned to the 
number of their scholars. Both applications were crowned 
with success, " in spite," say the trustees, in a letter to the 
Right Reverend Bishop Carroll ; "in spite of a good deal 
of the old hackneyed declamation against Pope and Pope- 



CHURCH OF ST. PETER. 597 

ry, by some liberal members of the lower house. In the 
Senate it was carried with only one dissenting voice." 

The address forwarded by the trustees, in June of 
this year, to the venerable and illustrious Bishop Carroll, 
signed by Thomas Stoughton, Andrew Morris, Cornelius 
Heeny, Michael Roth, John Hoey, John Byrne, and John 
Hinton, is one of the most consoling documents con- 
nected with the early annals of St. Peter's, breathing a 
truly Catholic spirit of respect and veneration. 

The attitude of the Catholic body seems to have 
been the pretext for the revival of old slanders, and a 
hostile spirit was soon manifested. On Christmas Eve, 
1806, a riotous assemblage gathered around St. Peter's, 
and, finding that there was no midnight mass, as to 
which, at that time, the most extravagant ideas prevailed 
among ignorant Protestants, excited quite a disturbance, 
but were repulsed from the church by some of the con- 
gregation. The next night the same lawless crowd as- 
sailed the houses of Catholics living in Augustus Street, 
now known as City Hall Place. In the trouble that 
ensued, a watchman was killed and several persons in- 
jured. 

It was the first of a long series of acts of mob 
violence against Catholics in the United States. 

In July, 1807, the Right Reverend Bishop appointed 
as pastor of St. Peter's the Rev. Louis Sibourd, a French 
clergyman, who had been in the country since 1798, 



598 



CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 



and whose learning and ability were liigUy respected. 
His stay in New York was not of long dm*ation. He 
left the city in the summer of 1808, and asked to be 
removed. 

The great Bishop of Baltimore felt deeply the con- 
dition of New York, where the increase of the faitliful 
had no corresponding increase of churches and clergy — 
where, in fact, the one church was almost without a 
priest. He had long solicited from the Holy See a 
di^dsion of his diocese and the establishment of a bishop 
at New York. In his present difficulty he appealed to 
the Society of Jesus, which had just been reorganized 
in Maryland. The Superior responded to his appeal, and 
at the close of the year 1808, the learned Rev. An- 
thony Kohlman, and a young American Father recently 
ordained, the Rev. Benedict J. Fenwick, came to St. 
Peter's. 

The Holy See had yielded to the wishes of the 
venerable Carroll. His vast diocese had been divided, a 
new see was established at New York, and a learned 
and pious Dominican, the Right Reverend Richard 
Luke Concanen, had been appointed bishop, and was 
actually consecrated at Rome, in April, 1808. His 
arrival was daily expected, the French occupation of 
Italy having prevented his finding means to embark. 

The Jesuit Fathers set to work, hoping soon to be 
encouraged by the presence of the bishop. They were 



4 



CHURCH OF ST. PETEE. 599 

assiduous in the confessional, in attending the sick, and 
found time to raise money for the schools and for the 
adornment of the church. 

They at once founded the New York Literary Insti- 
tution, a superior academy for boys, and opened negoti- 
ations with the Ursulines of Ireland, which resulted in 
the arrival of a colony of those excellent religious to 
begin a convent of their order in New York. The parish 
of St. Peter's, then including the whole island and its 
vicinity, contained, according to Father Kohlman's esti- 
mate, about sixteen thousand souls. To meet the wants 
of all, three sermons were preached every Sunday — in 
English, French, and Grerman — and three sets of cate- 
chetical instructions given. 

But a new church was evidently needed, and as the 
arrival of the Bishop became more and more uncertain. 
Father Kohlman, as we have seen, founded St, Patrick's 
in 1809, and began the erection of that church. 

Many converts were received into the church at this 
time, and the two zealous priests of St. Peter's endeav- 
ored even to bring the infamous Thomas Paine, on his 
death-bed, to a sense of the fearful impiety which he 
had propagated. 

All hope of the Bishop's assuming the direction of 

the diocese vanished in 1810, when news came of his 

sudden death at Naples. He had previously authorized 

Archbishop Carroll to appoint a vicar general to act in 

\ 



600 



CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 



his place at New York, and Father Kohlman became 
administrator during the vacancy of the see. 

On receiving news of the death of Bishop Con- 
canen, the clergy prepared to celebrate a solemn fune- 
ral service for the repose of his soul. The trustees of 
St. Peter's spared no expense to render the ceremony 
interesting, and impress Catholics and others alike with 
a sense of the high veneration due the episcopal char- 
acter. The sanctuary, the whole altar, and the curtains 
were black ; the catafalque was elegantly arranged, with 
the badges of the episcopal rank — the mitre, crosier^ &c. 
A Solemn High Mass, with deacon and subdeacon, was 
celebrated, with music in keeping with the solemn rite. A 
funeral sermon on the episcopal dignity was delivered 
by the Rev. Benedict J. Fenwick, to an audience more 
numerous than had ever been seen in a New York 
church. " I am informed," says Father Kohlmann, " that 
no solemnity performed in our church ever made so 
blessed an impression on all those who were present, as 
that of the said funeral service." 

In the spring of 1813, Father Kohlmann, pastor of 
St. Peter's, appeared before a court in a new and strange 
position. A Catholic named Keating made a complaint 
against one Philips, for receiving goods stolen from him, 
but before the supposed thieves or the receiver were 
brought to trial, Keating's property was restored to him. 
When he asked to have the case dismissed, the magis- 



CHURCH OF ST. PETER. 601 

trate ascertained that the stolen goods had been given 
back to him by the Rev. Father Kohlmann. That clergy- 
man was at once summoned, but declined to give any 
information, on the ground that he had received it in 
the discharge of his duty as a confessor, and that by 
the rules of the church he was bound to inviolable 
secrecy as to all communications made to him in the 
tribunal of penance. He was summoned before the Grrand 
Jury, and made the same explanation. When the case 
came on for trial, in March, 1813, he was called as a 
witness. Thus publicly brought to the bar, he explained 
at length his position : " Were I summoned to give 
evidence as a private individual (in which capacity I 
declare most solemnly I know nothing relative to the 
case before the court), and to testify from those ordinary 
sources of information from which the witnesses present 
have derived theirs, I should not for a moment hesitate, 
and should even deem it a duty of conscience to de- 
clare whatever knowledge I might have ; as it cannot 
but be in the recollection of this same honorable Court, 
I did, not long since, on a different occasion, because 
my holy religion teaches and commands me to be sub- 
ject to the higher powers in civil matters, and to respect 
and obey them. But if called upon to testify in quality 
of a minister of a sacrament, in which my God him- 
self has enjoined on me a perpetual and inviolable 
secrecy, I must declare to this honorable Court that I 



602 



CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 



cannot, I must not answer any question that has a 
bearing upon the restitution in question ; and that it 
would be my duty to prefer instantaneous death, or any 
temporal misfortune, rather than disclose the name of the 
penitent in question. For, were I to act otherwise, I 
should become a traitor to my Church, to my sacred 
ministry, and to my God. In fine, I should render my- 
self guilty of eternal damnation." 

After he had exposed at length the doctrine and dis- 
cipline of the Church, the whole matter was argued by 
counsel. Mr. Riker ably maintained that such communi- 
cations were privileged. Mr. Gardinier replied, relying 
upon the course pursued in the British Isles, where not 
long before the Rev. Mr. Gahan had in a similar case 
been committed for refusing to answer. To this, William 
Sampson replied, with great eloquence and learning. De 
Witt Clinton, who presided in the court as Mayor, gave 
a long and eloquent decision, and held : " The only 
course is, for the Court to declare that he shall not 
testify or act at all." 

The case excited general interest, and during the 
argument and decision the clergy and trustees of St. 
Peter's Church were all in attendance in the court. 

The whole case was subsequently published, with an 
elaborate treatise by the learned Jesuit on the Sacra- 
ment of Penance, which the Protestants in vain endeav- 
ored to refute. 



I 



CHURCH OF ST. PETER. 603 

Soon after the dedication of St. Patrick's, Fatlier 
Kohlmann was recalled to Maryland, and the Rev. Father 
Fenwick remained as pastor of the two churches, with 
the assistance of some Fathers of his society, and occa- 
sionally other priests. 

Mass was said alternately at the two churches on 
Sunday; and to aid the new church, many who owned 
or hired pews in St. Peter's were urged to purchase or 
hire also in the new Cathedral. This was done by the 
family of his Eminence Cardinal McCloskey, as well as 
by the writer's, and many of those then at St. Peter's 
who purchased pews in the Cathedral. His Eminence 
recollects that in those early times the children would 
ask on a Sunday morning whether they were to go to 
St. Peter's or to the church in the country, for St. Pat- 
rick's stood amid woods and fields, with scarcely a house 
near it, and even some years after that period a fox was 
caught in the churchyard. 

On the 24th of November, 1815, New York at last 
received a bishop in the person of the Right Reverend 
John Connolly. The only priests for the two churches 
were the Very Rev. Benedict J. Fenwick, Vicar Greneral, 
Rev. Peter Malou, with another Jesuit Father, and the 
Rev. Thomas Carberry. The Rev. Mr. Fenwick and one 
of his associates were recalled early in 1816. In 1817, 
separate acts of incorporation were obtained for St. Pat- 
rick's and St. Peter's. 



G04 



CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 



In Jaimary, 1818, the Rev. Charles Ffrench, a talented 
Dominican, preached at St. Peter's, and was soon after ap- 
pointed to the church as pastor. He was a convert, his 
father having been a bishop of the Established Church; 
after a long and laborious life he died at Lawrence, 
Mass., January 6, 1851, aged eighty-five. The Rev. Jolm 
Power, of Roscarbery, County Cork, Ireland, who had been 
professor in the Diocesan Seminary and curate at Youghal, 
came over at the solicitation of the trustees of St. Peter's. 
He was received into the diocese and stationed at St. 
Peter's, where, in 1822, his name appears as assistant to 
Father Ffrench. On the retirement of the latter, he was 
appointed by Bishop Connolly pastor of St. Peter's and 
subsequently Vicar General of the diocese. 

On the death of Rt. Rev. Bishop Connolly, his re- 
mains were taken to St. Peter's, where they lay in state 
on the 7th and 8th of February, 1825, in the middle 
aisle, and were visited by thirty thousand persons, it was 
estimated. The requiem was celebrated in the most im- 
posing manner, and the service produced a deep im- 
pression. 

The Very Rev. John Power was now administrator 
of the diocese, as well as pastor of St. Peter's. With 
that church he became identified during his long con- 
nection with it, extending over a period of thirty years. 
'• He was," says Archbishop Bayley, ** an eloquent preach- 
er, and for many years an active and zealous missionary. 



CHURCH OF ST. PETER. 605 

In the yellow fever of 1819 and 1822, and the first 
cholera of 1832, he perfoiTaed faithfully the duties of a 
good pastor. He was from the commencement a most 
zealous friend of the Orphan Asylum, took the liveliest 
interest in all that concerned it, and preached many 
admirable sermons in its behalf." 

His associates at this time were the venerable Rev. 
Peter A. Malou, whose life had been a remarkable one. 
When the Belgians rose against the tyranny of Joseph 
II. of Austria, he was one of the generals who suc- 
ceeded in expelling the foreign armies from their terri- 
tory. He endeavored, in vain, by negotiation and mih- 
tary skill, to check the invading forces of revolutionary 
France ; and, seeing that all was lost, resolved to make 
America his home, but, losing his wife, he renounced 
the world, and, concealing his education and social rank, 
applied to the Jesuits, in Russia, for admission as a lay 
brother. He was received, and employed in the usual 
work of a temporal coadjutor, till one day, as the rector 
was escorting a Belgian officer thi'ough the garden, he 
was astonished to see him suddenly stop and make a 
military salute to the new lay brother. The gentleman, 
recognizing his old general, had, unconsciously in his 
amazement, saluted him as of old, and the astonished 
rector learned the real merit of the humble novice. He 
was not permitted to enter as a lay brother, but was 
soon advanced to the priesthood, and was among those 



GOG 



CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 



Avlio were sent to the United States. When his fellow 
members of the Society of Jesus withdrew from New York 
he remained at St. Peter's, as he was personally bound 
for some of the church liabilities. He died on the 13th 
of October, 1827, at the age of seventy-four. 

The Very Rev. Dr. Power was a man of great 
learning, piety, and talent. As a theologian he showed 
skill in his controversy with Dr. Brownlee, without any 
asperity or acrimony. He prepared several prayer-books 
for general use, and a History of the New Testament 
in catechetical form. His charity was unbounded, know- 
ing no distinction in the appeal of want. 

On the appointment of the R.t. Rev. Dr. Du Bois to 
the See of New York, the Very Rev. Dr. Power went 
to Baltimore and acted as one of the assistant prelates 
at his consecration. At the Bishop's installation, in St. 
Peter's Cathedral, Dr. Power preached, announcing the ap- 
pointment to the congregation, and then resigned into the 
hands of the Right Reverend Bishop the trust he had 
filled for nearly two years. 

The Right Reverend Dr. Du Bois retained Dr. Power 
as pastor of St. Peter's and Vicar General of the dio- 
cese during his whole episcopate. 

The Rev. James M. Smith, Rev. William Quarter, 
P. Moran, and J. A. Neill were assistants between 1828 
and 1833. 

About the year 1834, the old brick church with its 



CHURCH OF ST. PETER. 607 

square tower and dome began to be regarded by some 
as no longer safe. The congregation, notwithstanding the 
erection of new churches, was still very large. To use 
the language of the venerable Thomas O'Conor, '' St. 
Peter's overflowed." To enlarge or rebuild had been for 
years a favorite topic; the inadequacy of means or 
doubts as to the best course to pursue led the trustees 
from time to time to defer the subject. At length the 
evident decay of part of the materials of which the 
chui'ch was built caused alarm. A review of the build- 
ing was made on the 8th of April, 1836, by thi-ee com- 
petent builders, who united in their report "that it was 
unsafe for a congregation to assemble in said church in 
its present condition. The correctness of this report was 
shortly afterwards verified by the falling into the body 
of the church, at a time when the congregation was 
happily absent, of the entire flat portion of the ceiling." 
The church if repau'ed would be inadequate, and it was 
resolved to rebuild it on an enlarged plan. 

The resolution to rebuild was passed on the 5th of 
June, 1886, and the next day the removal of the earth 
was commenced. The little space around the church had 
been the first cemetery of the Catholics in New York 
City, and the removal of the remains caused deep grief 
in many families. Most of the remains were conveyed 
to the Cathedral, ground, and there carefully reinterred. 
In a short time the original cemetery vanished, leaving 



608 



CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 



as the oldest Catholic tombstones in New York City 
those in Trinity churchyard. 

On the 9th day of August, the workmen began to 
lay the foundation stones of the new church, and pre- 
parations were made to suspend service in the venerable 
structure where the illustrious Archbishop Carroll had 
officiated. The Holy Sacrifice of the mass was celebrated 
for the last time in old St. Peter's on the 28tli day of 
August. Then the rude hand of destruction commenced 
its work on the cradle of Catholicity in our city, and 
in a few weeks every vestige of the honored structure 
had vanished. 

The new church began under favorable auspices. The 
ground was clear from all incumbrance ; there was 
about ten thousand dollars in the treasury of the church. 
But results were to show that the vice of the trustee 
system was here to be developed to its utmost extent. 

The corner-stone of the new building, which was 
to be a Grecian •structiu'e of granite, was laid on the 
26th day of October, by the Right Rev. John Du Bois, 
Bishop of New York, with all the prescribed ceremonial. 
The number of attending clergy gave additional solemnity 
to the scene, and the eloquent address of the Very Rev. 
Dr. Power was listened to with the deepest attention. 

The building was then urged forward with more haste 
than economy. A priest, appealing to the faith of the 
people and their attachment to religion, can collect means — 



CHURCH OF ST. PETER. 609 

the larger donations of the few more wealthy, the many 
smaller contributions of the poor, whom it is a mark of 
the Church Catholic to have ever with her. A board of 
trustees can make no such appeal. "In the present case, 
soon after the erection of new St. Peter's was commenced," 
says Archbishop Hughes, "the trustees induced the pastor 
of the church to proclaim from the pulpit that the poor 
who had money, even in small sums, might, with perfect 
safety, give the use of it to the board of trustees; that 
they should allow the same interest that was allowed on 
deposits in the savings banks ; that it would be perfectly 
safe, and that, without loss to themselves, the depositors 
would be aiding the church and promoting religion." 

The appeal was responded to ; money flowed in and 
was lavishly expended, so that, when the church was 
completed, in 1837, the debt was more than one hun- 
dred and sixteen thousand dollars. 

As soon as the basement was completed it was fit- 
ted up for divine service, and on the first Sunday in 
September, 1837, Holy Mass was offered there. 

On the 25th of February, 1838, the interior of the 
church being finished, it was opened for public service. 
The dedication was performed by the Right Reverend 
Bishop Hughes. " The very reverend pastor, in a strain 
of eloquence in which it may be said he exceeded himself, 
preached to an audience of more than four thousand per- 
sons, who occupied not only every pew but all the aisles 
39 



610 



CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 



and every spot where man could find a place to sit or 
stand. Many were excluded for want of fui'ther space." 

The Church was of Grecian architectui-e, a style 
which has never since been adopted in our city Catholic 
churches. It excited no little comment at the time, and 
the marble tabernacle, a representation of the chm-ch it- 
self, and the movable pulpit, appeared to many strange. 
The accomplished scholar, the Rev. Charles Constantine 
Pise, who became assistant pastor of St. Peter's in 1839, 
on the occasion of the third anniversary of the dedication 
of the new church, entered upon an elaborate defence of 
the architecture, showing that they had followed the views 
of the illustrious Bishop Milner, author of the "End of 
Controversy." Of that occasion the venerable Thomas 
O'Conor said: "This was a glorious day for the Catholics 
of New York. A church of great architectural beauty, of 
studied solidity in all its parts, in size more than double 
that of the church that had been lately removed, was, at 
great expense, built within little more than one year. 
This edifice, a monument of the zeal and public spirit of 
the congregation, is not only a great convenience to 
ourselves, but an ornament to the city, elevating the 
Catholics, both as men and as Christians, in the esteem 
and respect of theh dissenting brethren." 

Soon after the reopening of the church the difficul- 
ties began to assume a formidable aspect. The money 
borrowed had to be repaid; but the current expenses 



\ 



CHURCH OF ST. PETER. 611 

had increased, without any proportionate increase of rev- 
enue, and the interest even was a heavy burden. 

On the 19th of July, 1840, the venerable Thomas 
O'Conor delivered before the Society of St. Peter, in the 
school-room of the church, a most interesting address, in 
which he reviewed the history of St. Peter's down to 
that time. He alludes to the exertions which the trustees 
were then making to liquidate the debts of the chm-ch. 

But the system was bad. The erection of the church 
and of a parochial residence on leased ground, slowly 
and painfully accomplished, seemed to paralyze them. 
Year by year the debt assumed more formidable propor- 
tions, and though in the anniversary of 1841, when the 
venerable Bishop Du Bois celebrated Pontifical High Mass, 
the Rev. Dr. Pise dwelt on the beauty of the church 
and its venerable associations, nothing was done to meet 
the want — a general apathy prevailed. The venerable 
pastor, yielding to age and infirmity, could no longer 
give the energy of the olden time to his stirring appeals ; 
his accomplished assistant was not possessed of the finan- 
cial and administrative ability requisite, nor did the Board 
of Trustees contain any man competent to the emergency. 

In 1844, the Board became virtually bankrupt, and 
made an assignment of the church for the benefit of its 
creditors, whose claims then amounted to $134,945. To 
the grief of the Catholic body, their oldest church was 
put up at auction at the Merchants' Exchange. The 



612 CATHOLIC CHUECHES OF NEW YOUK. 

Right Reverend Bishop Hughes, who had been unable 
to remedy evils which he saw and deplored, had the 
property purchased for him for forty-six thousand dollars 
But as creditors commenced suits, the validity of 
the sale was questioned, and the church remained five 
years in the hands of the assignees, getting constantly 
more involved, although the assignees received not only 
the pew rents, but, what they certainly had no right to 
touch, the voluntary contributions of the faithful for the 
maintenance of divine worship. 

On the 1st of November, 1849, Bishop Hughes at last 
obtained possession of the church, and put an end to the 
mismanagement perpetuated in the name of the assignees. 

The venerable Dr. Power had passed away on the 
14th of April, 1849, his last years filled up with men- 
tal and bodily suffering, increased by the disasters that 
had befallen his beloved church. The Rev. Dr. Pise 
succeeded him ; but in November, the Right Reverend 
Bishop confided the church to the energetic Rev. Wil- 
liam Quinn, and the Court appointed as assignees the 
Rev. James R. Bayley and James B. Nicholson, Esq., 
who at once began the task of disentangling and regu- 
lating the confused affairs of the church. 

A meeting was called of the principal members of 
the church, and once a way was seen out of their 
difficulty, and confidence restored, the work of redemp- 
tion began. Under the determined and persistent energy 



CHURCH OF ST. PETEK. 6I3 

of the new pastor, collections were steadily made ; the 
income of the church rose rapidly, so that in five years 
$22,675.72 of the outstanding notes were taken up, and 
all arrears of interest and ground rent were cleared off, 
although in the previous five years less than thirteen 
hundred dollars in all had been paid. 

In fact, at the close of the year 1852, Archbishop 
Hughes had made a kind of jubilee at St. Peter's, and 
sang a Te Deum in thanksgiving for what had been 
even then accomplished, and the zeal evinced by the 
congregation to persevere till the church was clear. 

" I congratulate your pastor," said his Grace on that 
occasion, " who, by his prudence and his devotion and 
unceasing energy, has been your representative, en- 
couraging you, and accomplishing the wonderful things 
which he has accomplished, when you find that within 
three years, besides the ordinary expenses of this church, 
he has paid, or you have enabled him to pay, twenty-two 
thousand dollars to the poor note-holders. I congratulate 
St. Peter's Church, that they have borne their own bur- 
dens and called for no aid from other quarters." 

Under the guidance of the Rev. Mr. Quinn, the good 
work went on until all but seven thousand dollars of 
the debt was paid off. Besides this old burden, new 
expenses came. Large stores were built on Yesey Street, 
running back to the rear of the church, and the exca- 
vation threatened the south wall to such an extent that 



614 CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 

a new wall, twenty feet liigli, had to be erected, with 
iron pillars and solidly braced, in order to make the 
building firm. This necessary work, with a new iron rail- 
ing around the church, involved an additional outlay of 
over twenty thousand dollars, which was all promptly 
paid. The interior of the church was renovated and fres- 
coed by Molini, in 1855, and other improvements made 
without increasing the debt. 

In July, 1853, St. Peter's was filled with CathoHcs 
and Protestants to attend a solemn requiem for an aged 
man whose coffined corpse lay before the altar. At the 
close of the mass the Rev. Mr. Quinn pronounced his 
eulogy. And never perhaps has the Catholic Church stood 
forth more grandly in New York that on that day. 
" Though no relative is left to mourn for him," said the 
pastor, " yet many present will feel that they have lost 
one who always had wise counsel for the rich, encourage- 
ment for the poor ; and all will be grateful for having 
known him." The aid he gave the late Bishop Fenwick 
of Boston, to Dr. Power of our city, to all Catholic 
institutions, his zeal during the yellow fever, were de- 
tailed, and the Rev. Mr. Quinn, closing, said : '' There are 
few left among the clergy superior to him in devotion 
and zeal for the Church, and for the glory of God ; 
among laymen, none." 

And the man whom the Catholic Church thus hon- 
ored was a black man, of humble calling, Pierre Toussaint. 



CHURCH OF ST. PETER. 615 

During the period of his pastorship the Rev. WilHam 
Quinn was assisted by various clergymen — the Rev. Mi- 
chael Madden, 1850; Rev. Daniel Mugan, 1851-52; Rev. 
Patrick McCarthy, 1853 ; the venerable Rev. John Shana- 
han, a priest ordained by Bishop Connolly, who remained 
at St. Peter's till his death, Aiigust 8th, 1870, at the ad- 
vanced age of seventy-eight ; Rev. Daniel Durning, 1855 ; 
Rev. James L. Conron, 1858 ; Rev. P. L. Madden, 1862 ; 
Rev. P. Maguire, 1863; Rev. Gabriel Healy, 1864; Rev. 
John Hughes, 1865 ; Rev. James Quinn, 1867-9 ; the 
Rev. Michael J. O'Farrell, 1869-72; Rev. Michael C. 
O'Farrell, 1870-73; Rev. Michael J. Phelan, 1873. 

The Rev, Michael J. O'Farrell was extremely active 
and energetic, and during the absence of the Rev. Mr. 
Quinn in Europe had charge of the parish. St. Peter's 
had now, by the energy of the pastor, been relieved 
from its dishonor and its immense debt reduced so that 
it could easily be paid off. The Rev. Mr. O'Farrell be- 
gan to preach and lecture for the erection of a suitable 
school-house worthy of the oldest parish in the city. 

When the Most Reverend Archbishop McCloskey, in 
1873, called the Rev. Mr. Quinn to the pastorship of 
the Cathedral and the important position of Vicar Gren- 
eral, he confided St. Petei^s to the care of the Rev. 
Michael J. O'Farrell. 

The Rev. Mr. Quinn, in his parting address, Sunday, 
April 27, could look back with satisfaction on what he 



616 CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 

had accomplislied. He had led them in their manful 
struggle, but the end had been attained. St. Peter's 
was free from its load of debt, and notwithstanding the 
lapse of time and the number of small claims, there was 
not more than a hundred dollars that was not claimed. 
All had been found, and all had been paid. As he 
looked over the congregation, he missed many who in 
that long effort had nobly sustained and aided him ; he 
saw many too who had grown up or come in and 
cheerfully assumed their share of the burden. 

The Rev. Mr. O'Farrell took up energetically his 
projected school-house. On the 11th of June, 1873, he 
purchased, for eighty thousand dollars, a large building 
erected as a factory, and, beginning work at it in July, 
altered it by removing floors and making proper divisions 
for classes, so that it was ready on the 8th of September 
to open, as it did, with seven hundred boys. The pupils 
assembled in the church, and, after hearing mass, marched 
to the new school-house, which was profusely decorated 
with the American, Irish, and Papal flags. Lines of 
flags and streamers extended across Church and Cedar 
Streets, and an immense crowd gathered. The school 
was then blessed and dedicated to education that leads 
to God. The reverend pastor, among others, addi-essed his 
parishioners, thanking them for the zeal shown by them 
in the educational movement. He wished to be under- 
stood that in this matter the priests and people went 



CHURCH OF ST. PETER. 617 

together, and that his parishioners would bear sacrifices, 
no matter how hard, in order that their children might 
receive a Christian education. He hoped they would 
not abate their zeal until every Catholic child in the 
ward had been brought under the influence of a Chris- 
tian education. 

The boys having thus been provided for, the base- 
ment of the church was enlarged for the girls' school, 
which remained here for a year. Meanwhile, zealously 
pushing his great work, the Rev. Mr. O'Farrell, in 1874, 
removed some old workshops standing on the school prop- 
erty, and erected a new school-house for girls, at a cost 
of over twenty-five thousand dollars. Ten classes were 
opened here as in the boys' school. 

The supplying of these schools with all requisites, 
including class-books for the pupils, was another source 
of expense. The magnitude of the whole undertaking 
may be seen in the fact that in twenty months no less 
than fifty-seven thousand dollars were expended in de- 
veloping the educational facilities of St. Peter's parish. 

To meet the regular expense of sustaining these 
schools, which cost from twelve to fifteen thousand dol- 
lars a year, a regular organization of the whole parish 
was established, and a ten-cent collection taken up, which 
the first year reached fourteen thousand dollars. 

The cost of the new property and buildings entailed 
a debt which raised the whole obligation of St. Peter's to 



618 



. CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 



ninety-tliree thousand dollars ; but what in the old system 
would have been a burden almost hopeless, has, under the 
awakened zeal and religion of the parish, become one easily 
grappled. Within the last five years this load of debt 
has been reduced to forty-seven thousand dollars, evil as 
the times have been. 

The parochial district of St. Peter's is bounded by 
Broadway, Canal Street, and the North River, and con- 
tains about twenty-five thousand Catholics. Governor's 
Island is also under the charge of the clergy of St. Pe- 
ter's, and mass is said there every Sunday for the Catho- 
lic soldiers. 

This mission has had its history. The Catholic who 
entered the army of the Republic of the United States, 
whose Constitution provided against the establishment of 
a religion, found the Protestant religion really estab- 
lished. He was compelled to attend a Protestant form 
of worship, and not permitted to attend his own, just as 
in many parts Catholics in State eleemosynary and cor- 
rectional establishments still are. Thus, in 1851, General 
Wool punished Duggan, a Catholic soldier at Fort Co- 
lumbus, for refusing to attend a Protestant service; an- 
other general put Catholics through double-quick drill for 
the same cause; and by a strange system. Catholic sol- 
diers were tried by court-martial for not remaining in a 
Catholic chapel after service when ordered to do so. 
Lieutenant O'Brien, author of a work on military law, 



CHURCH OF ST. PETER. 619 

was put under arrest for refusing to enter a Protestant 
church to which he had conducted a squad of Protest- 
ant soldiers. 

Good sense at last prevailed. The clergy of St. 
Peter's now say mass every Sunday on Governor's Isl- 
and, as the priests did in the olden time of James II. 
for the Catholic soldiers in Fort James. 

St. Peter's has several sodalities to keep alive piety 
and devotion in the flock. The Confraternities of the 
Blessed Sacrament, the Sacred Heart of Jesus, and the 
Perpetual Adoration were established here in the time 
of Fathers Kohlmann and Fenwick. There are now flour- 
ishing a Confraternity of the Sacred Heart, two Sodali- 
ties of the Immaculate Conception, a Rosary and an 
.Altar Society, and two well-sustained Conferences of the 
Society of St. Vincent de Paul. There is also a Tem- 
perance Society. 

The Rev. Mr. O'Farrell has been assisted in his 
duties by the Rev. John P. McClancy, 1874-5 ; Rev. 
Charles R. Corley, 1874-7 ; Rev. Joseph H. Haine, 
1875; Rev. A. Canary, 1876; Rev. W. J. O'Kelly, 
1877-8; and Rev. John B. O'Hare. 

It would be ungenerous to close this sketch without 
mention of what St. Peter's owes to Trinity Church. 
That Protestant Episcopal Church sold her the ground 
for her first church, when every feeling was against her; 
afforded her a place in her cemetery for the interment 



620 



CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 



of the Catholic dead, when the ground around St. Peter's 
was too scanty; and when, in the midst of the church 
difficulties, the functionary in whose control the law had 
placed the management of affairs, attempted to drive the 
priests of the parish from their residence by neglecting 
to pay the ground rent to Trinity, that corporation 
would not become a party to the outrage. The great 
Archbishop Hughes said, in reference to this : "I retm^n 
my thanks now to that corporation for the kindness and 
forbearance with which they treated the clergy of St, 
Peter's Church upon that occasion, for they made the 
observation that for a sum so trifling they would not 
be willing to see the clergy of any denomination dispos- 
sessed and turned out from their lodgings and place of 
usual residence." 

Such is, in brief, the history of St. Peter's Church, 
which the illustrious Archbishop Hughes styled ''the 
very cradle of Catholicity, the very spot upon which 
the altar was permanently erected for the first time in 
the State of New York — this church, the oldest and most 
endeared by every fond recollection of the oldest fami- 
Hes." 



i 



I 



CHURCH OF ST. PETER. 621 



REV. MICHAEL J. O'FARRELL, 

PASTOE OF THE CHURCH OF ST. PETER. 



THE present pastor of the oldest Catholic church 
in New York was born in Limerick, Ireland, on 
the 2d of December, 1832, and was baptized on the feast 
of St. Francis Xavier, the Apostle of the Indies. He be- 
longed to a family which has given several of its sons 
to the service of the altar. 

After his preliminary studies he entered the Mission- 
ary College of All Hallows, in 1848, and devoted three 
years to the study of rhetoric, philosophy, and part of 
his theological course. Proceeding then to the great Sem- 
inary of St. Sulpice, at Paris, he completed his course and 
received deacon's orders, but was ordained priest in Ire- 
land, on the 18th of August, 1855. 

Returning to Paris, he connected himself with the 
congregation of St. Sulpice, with the ^dew of being em- 
ployed in the mission to Canada ; but while in his novi- 
tiate, in the Solitude at Issy, it was decided that he 
should fill the chair of Dogmatic Theology in the semi- 
nary, which he did for a year — a singular honor for a 



622 CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 

foreign student in an establishment ' of world-wide re- 
nown. 

His health, however, was affected by the excessive 
study and mental application, and he was sent to the city 
of Montreal, and was for some years one of the theo- 
logical faculty at the Grand Seminary of that city. Then 
for four years he was stationed at St. Patrick's, attending 
also the Church of St. Bridget. He spent eight years 
in active missionary Hfe in Canada, and won the highest 
esteem in Montreal. 

In July, 1869, having connected himself with the 
Diocese of New York, he was placed as assistant at St. 
Peter's Church, and remained there for three years, evinc- 
ing a zeal in the flock that won universal confidence. 

In July, 1872, he was appointed pastor of Rondout, 
but in May, 1873, he was recalled to New York to 
accept the burden of the pastorship of St. Peter's. On 
resigning to his hands the position which he had held 
so long and so honorably, the Very Rev. Mr. Quinn said 
to the Catholics worshiping in St. Peter's : "I know him 
well, and I think it would be difficult to find a clergy- 
man who would be better calculated to give satisfac- 
tion." 

His five years of pastoral labor tell how worthily 
he must rank among the parish priests of St. Peter's. 
Of great theological learning, he has the eloquence 
which reaches the mind and touches the heart of the 



CHURCH OF ST. PETER. 



623 



humblest; and, ever devoted to his flock, seekmg their 
good, he has in mature years all the zeal and activity 
of a young clergyman. What the parish has accom- 
plished under his impulse attests this, and shows it to be 
no mere compliment. 




CHURCH OF ST. PETER 

BtriLT IN 1786; TAKEN DOWN IN 1836. 



G24 



CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 



R 



OLL OF 



H 



ONOR 



CHURCH OF ST. PETER; 



Baker, George E. 
Baldwin, Patrick. 
Barden, Daniel. 
Barnett, J. 
Brady, Patrick J. 
Brassiell, Edward. 
Brown, William H. 
Burke, Michael. 
Burns, Michael W., Mrs. 
Callahan, John. 
Campbell, Christopher W. 
Carmody, Michael. 
Carroll, Mary, Mrs. 
Casey, Patrick. 
Chabert, Eugene, Mrs. 
Cherry, James. 
Cherry, Thomas. 
Clark, Owen. 
Clark, Andrew. 
Cleary, Thomas. 
Clune, Michael. 
Carroll, Patrick. 
Connell, Patrick J. 
Connolly, John. 
Connor, Kane, Mrs. 
Cromien, Joseph. 
Daly, Patrick. 
Derick, Catharine B. 
Dillon, Ella. 
DoUard, Patrick. 
Donohue, Catharine M. 
Donovan, James. 
Downey, Patrick. 
Duffy, Michael. 
Duffy, Patrick G. 
Duffy, Terence. 
Dunn, Patrick H. 
Dwyer, James. 
Early, William. 
Evans, Owen. 
Fannon, Martin J. 
Fay, Thomas. 
Fennell, James J. 



Fitzgerald, J. 
Flynn, Michael J. 
Foley, Tliomas. 
Fox, Lewis. 
Gray, Patrick, Mrs. 
Halloran, Michael. 
Halpiii, Michael. 
Herring, John. 
Hetherington, James. 
Hickey, James. 
Hickey, Patrick. 
Hogan, John. 
Holahan, Thomas J. 
Hurley, John. 
Keenan, Dennis. 
Kehoe, James. 
Kennedy, William. 
Kenney, M. W. 
Kelly, Lawrence. 
Kerin, Patrick. 
Kinsley, James. 
Lacey, William J. 
Lawless, Richard. 
Leonard, Frederick. 
Lett, William F. 
Loughran, James. 
Lyons, Jane, Mrs. 
McArdle, Henry. 
McAuley, John. 
McCaffrey, Edward. 
McCarthy, Thomas. 
McGuire, Thomas. 
McKeever, John. 
McKeon, John. 
McMahon, Daniel C. 
McNally, Owen. 
McQuade, William. 
McQuaid, James. 
Madigan, James H. 
Maher, W'illiam. 
Mansfield, Patrick. 
Marache, Napoleon, Mrs. 
Martin, Michael. 
Meagher, Michael. 



"Meagher, Thomas. 
Mooney, John J. 
Moore, Francis. 
Moore, Patrick H. 
Morgan, John, Mrs. 
Murphy, Joseph M. 
Murphy, M. J. 
Murphy, N. 
Murray, I'atrick. 
Nihan, Patrick. 
O'Brien, Thomas. 
O'Connor, Margaret. 
O'Connor, Michael, 
O'Connor, Terence. 
O'Meara, M. J. 
O'Reilly, Philip. 
Quinn, Cornelius. 
Quinn, Dennis. 
Reagan, William H. 
Roche, Michael. 
Ryan, John M. 
Ryan, John P. 
Ryan, Timothy, Mrs. 
Scully, Richard F. 
Silles, F. W. 
Slevin, Michael. 
Slevin, Patrick. 
Smith, Charles. 
Smith, Edward. 
Snyder, Henry. 
Stephens, William. 
Stanton, John. 
Sweeny, Daniel. 
Terry, John. 
Tucker, Charles H., Jr. 
Turley, Patrick, Mrs. 
Twohig, James D. 
Walsh, Cornelius. 
Webber, E., Mrs. 
Williams, Thomas. 
Wilson, James P. 
Woods, James. 
Woods, John. 



/'S "^ ^—-. '^-'' mm 




CHURCH OF SAINT ROSE OF LIMA. 

CANNON STREET. 



CHURCH OF SAINT ROSE OF LIMA. 

CANNON STREET. 



THE parish of St. Rose of Lima was established 
in the year 1867, by the Archbishop of New 
York, his Eminence Cardinal McCloskey. It comprises 
the district bounded on the north by the south side of 
East Fourth Street, on the west by the east side of 
Avenue D, Sheriff and Jackson Streets on the south, 
and east by the East River. 

The first pastor appointed to this charge was the 
Rev. Michael McKenna. Having been, previous to this 
appointment, assistant and acting pastor of St. Mary's 
Church, of which the greater part of his new mission 
had been a portion, he knew well the people to whom 
he was to minister. He knew their wants — he appreci- 
ated them. He went amongst them, from house to house, 
from door to door, and by his zeal and their liberality 
was erected, in the short space of one month, a tem- 
porary chapel, in which the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass 
was celebrated for the first time on Sunday, February 
9th, 1868. 

With gratitude to God is that morning remembered 



CHUEOH OF ST. ROSE OF LIMA. 627 

by those who were present; for, though there were no 
pews or seats of any kind, no carpeted or matted floor, 
no frescoed or painted walls, their prayer had been 
answered; the sacrifice of the Lamb without spot had 
been offered in the midst of their homes. 

Priest and people, thus encouraged, began without 
delay the erection of the present church edifice, the 
ground costing, with that already purchased, thirty-seven 
thousand dollars, and the building ninety-six thousand 
dollars. It is sixty-eight feet in width and one hundred 
and twenty-five feet in depth, and seats thirteen hun- 
dred people. The corner-stone was laid, on July 31, 
1870, by the Very Eeverend W. Starrs, V.Gr., in the 
absence of the Archbishop, then at the Council in the 
Vatican. 

The Church was solemnly dedicated on Sunday, 
April 23d, 1871, by the Most Reverend Archbishop Mc- 
Closkey, assisted by the Right Reverend John Loughlin, 
Bishop of Brooklyn, and the Right Reverend Tobias 
Mullen, Bishop of Erie, Pa. The dedicatory sermon was 
preached by the Very Reverend I. T. Hecker, founder 
of the Congregation of the Paulists. 

The church built, the zeal of the pastor never re- 
laxed. For more than seven years did he labor, in sea- 
son and out of season, always sustained by the affec- 
tion and generosity of his people. 

He died on Friday, June 4th, 1875, comfoi-ted by the 



628 CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 

last sacraments of the Holy Church, and the attendance 
of many priests, friends, and acquaintances. 

His requiem was sung by his life-long friend, the 
Very Eev. W. Quinn, V.Gr. There were in attendance more 
than two hundred priests, among whom was his brother, 
Rev. Edward McKenna, who, in answer to his summons, 
joiu'neyed across the Atlantic to visit him in his sick- 
ness, but whose melancholy pleasure it was only to attend 
his requiem. His panegyric was preached by the Rev. 
Michael J. O'Farrell, pastor of St. Petei^'s Church, New 
York, and, portraying as it does his character and his 
zeal, a summary is here appended : " How naturally, 
my bretln-en, do the words of St. Paul occur to us this 
day, ' Labor as a good soldier of Christ' There before 
us lies a true soldier of the cross. Look upon him now, 
him whom you see for the last time upon earth. He 
indeed joroved himself the father of his people, the soldier 
who fought in the cause of Jesus Christ, till the last 
moment of his life. He who spent himself for your sake 
is gone from among you. Oh ! if the very stones of 
this church could speak, every one of them could tell 
you how they had been, as it were, cemented together 
by the sweat of his brow, so hard did he labor for 
the erection of St. Rose's ! Your presence here to-day 
proves your veneration for your pastor ; it shows that 
you feel that you have lost a true friend, who was in 
effect as well as in name the pastor of the flock in- 



CHURCH OF ST. ROSE OF LIMA. 629 

trusted to liis care. Of none more than of him may it 
be said that he was a true soldier of Jesus Christ. A 
soldier to be true to His cause should be possessed of 
three qualities — he should be loyal to the cause in 
which he is enlisted ; he should be possessed of the 
knowledge of arms; and finally, he should have sujfficient 
courage to put that knowledge into execution. 

"Now it seems to me that I do not indulge in any 
flattery when I say that Father McKenna proved by the 
life he led that he was a good and faithful soldier. In 
the first place, he was loyal to the cause. He was 
born in the land where the childi'en of the clansmen of 
O'Donnell laid down their lives for their religion. The air 
he breathed in early childhood inspired him with sentiments 
of heroism ; he saw the desecrated shrines and ruined 
monasteries around him, so that indeed the wonder would 
be if he were disloyal. Not alone the old traditions 
made him loyal as a soldier of Christ, but he was par- 
ticularly so because of the memories infused into his 
heart by the dear old Irish mother whom he loved so 
well, and whose greatest joy and hope was to see the 
child of her heart consecrated to the Lord. He ac- 
cordingly prepared for the sacred ministry, and that too 
when to become a priest meant to be a candidate for 
martyrdom. Yet she desired that he should aspire to 
the priesthood. She desired it, though she saw the 
sufferings he would have to encounter, with perhaps 



630 CATHOLIC CaUKOHES OF NEW YORK. 

a dim vision of tlie scaffold looming in the distance. 
Oh, how lonely and desolate must she not sit to-day, 
away in the old land, knowing that the child she con- 
secrated to God lies cold and dead in a strange coun- 
try ! However, she may well feel happy when she shall 
hear the glad news that thousands of warm Irish hearts 
throb in sorrow and mourn in grief over his grave. We 
all feel proud of him because his record from his early 
youth is such as to reflect the greatest credit upon him. 
He was born and reared in Ireland when that country 
was undergoing the greatest trials and troubles. He was 
born in that particular portion of it too which from the 
growth of Protestantism is known as 'the Black North.' 
But yet that land, so black, loomed up gradually under 
the sun of justice, and shone out in glory once again. 
There, in the midst of persecution, he learned to love 
the Church at his mother's knee ; and as he grew up he 
was taken under the fostering care of that eminent di- 
vine, the great Dr. McGill of Derry, that truly noble 
ecclesiastic, who, in the time of Ireland's suffering, had 
the manhood to confront a British peer — no less a one 
than Lord Derby — and bring him to account for the 
gross treatment received by the Irish people at the 
hands of the English Government. Father McKenna's 
early training made him love the Chui'ch with an ardent 
love. When he entered Maynooth College his faculties 
were fully developed, and his abilities were of a rare 



CHURCH OF ST. ROSE OF LIMA. 631 

order. As a theologian he could not be surpassed. In 
the dogmatic and moral course he was perfect, and he 
not only knew it, but could apply it, like a careful phy- 
sician, in such a manner as to heal the wounds of the 
soul ; and in 1846 he commenced to make use of his 
knowledge. 

"A soldier may be possessed of arms and not have 
the courage to use his arms when called upon. Father 
McKenna, however, was not one of those. He never 
once faltered ; he never flinched, when his duty called 
upon him, to face danger or endure trials in the cause 
of religion. And this unbending courage is the special 
trait, the peculiar characteristic of every Irish priest. 
The Irish priest has never been daunted, never been 
frightened or driven back when called upon to perform 
his duty faithfully and well. When the famine broke 
out in 1848, then it was the Irish priest proved him- 
self — when the Irish people stood in need of his serv- 
ices. If we could see men falling dead on the highway, 
and women breaking stones, struggling against starvation, 
and the priest coming with relief to the suffering ones, 
braving contagion and death, then we could realize his 
worth. Oh, how the young priest labored — many of 
you know it — when famine stalked tlirough the land, 
while the bones of many of his countrymen were 
whitening in the ocean's bed ! It was an awful time ; 
people flying from their homes, starving and suflbring in 



632 CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 

the extreme of misery. It was sad to see the bodies of 
the dead piled one on another. Oh, the weight of woe 
that must have fallen on the heart of the Irish priest 
at such a sight ! But the Irish priest was not alone true 
to the cause of religion ; he was also true to the cause 
of his country. He showed himself true to the cause of 
Ireland whenever occasion offered. I know myself that 
Magee, one of the exiles of '48, one of the bravest 
and best among them, owed his escape to him who now 
lies stiff and cold in death before us. Were it not for 
the Rev. Father McKenna, he might have passed the re- 
mainder of his days in a dungeon. Your pastor was a 
sincere lover of Ireland's faith and nationality. No mat- 
ter where we go, we can look back to those old Irish 
priests at home, whose nationality and religious feelings 
were never separated. Fourteen years he labored among 
the people at home. Fourteen years is a long period of 
warfare in an Irish mission. A priest there must face 
the insolent and the haughty — face them Avith unflinch- 
ing brow. Oh, how much courage it required to stand 
up for the poor then, unmoved by the tempting offer- 
ings of the rich ! Yet Irish priests acted thus in Ireland 
when it required the spirit of heroism to act so. 

"The people of Father McKenna's native city, even 
in those dark days, thought tlieir church unworthy of 
God, so they resolved on erecting a suitable temple to 
His Divine Majesty, and it was your good pastor who 



CHURCH OF ST. ROSE OF LIMA. 633 

undertook to secure funds for the purpose. This was the 
cause of his first mission to America. When we raise a 
church, we build a fortress to which His children can 
fly in a time of danger from the perils that surround 
them. The material church is the fortress, the castle 
where virtue can be defended. To build up one worthy 
of the Most High, he proceeded to this country and suc- 
ceeded in procuring funds. When he had built up this 
great church in 'the Black North,' he was transferred to 
another field of labor, to begin another mission where 
his labors would be amply rewarded," 

The Eev. Mr. O'Farrell dwelt at length on the de- 
ceased clergyman's labors in New York City. He con- 
trasted the old church with the present splendid structure. 
''The contrast/' said the reverend orator, "between the old 
building and the present, resembles the whole history of 
the Church in this city. He went from door to door, 
toiled night and day, to build up the present magnificent 
structure. Even sometimes when collecting funds for the 
erection of this chm-ch, he was known to be rebuked 
with cold words, even by the very persons for whom he 
^worked so hard. He struggled on, and persevered mitil 
he fully accomplished his purpose. If the very stones 
of this edifice could speak, they would cry out in praise 
of his energy, courage, and perseverance. Eemember that 
he would not be a soldier of Christ if he would not fight 
against, not only your enemies but yourselves. And so 



634 CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 

many, wliile the priest is living, feel his words fall harsh 
upon their ears ; but when he is no more, begin to feel 
that his words, spoken hastily, may have given pain; 
but then they were only like the medicine administered 
by the physician, which effects the cure, though it may 
have been distasteful to the patient." 

Here the Reverend speaker dwelt at some length upon 
the fact that the deceased had always proved himself a 
true soldier of Jesus Christ. The preacher, in doing so, 
took occasion to remark that excellent qualities of head 
and heart made him specially beloved by all. He con- 
sidered some of the leading virtues for which the late 
pastor was remarkable, and hoped the congregation would 
pray in the language of the Church, ''Eternal rest give 
unto him, Lord ! and let perpetual light shine upon 
him. May his example be a shining light before the 
throne of Him in whose cause we all must fight." His 
remains were interred in Calvary Cemetery. After the 
death of the Rev. Mr. McKenna the parish was adminis- 
tered by the Rev. Patrick J. Daly, until the appoint- 
ment of the Rev. Richard Brennan as pastor, in July of 
the same year, by his Eminence Cardinal McCloskey. 



CHUECH OF ST. ROSE OF LIMA. 635 



REV. EICHAED BRENNAN, 

PASTOE OF THE CHURCH OF ST. EOSE OF LIMA. 



THE Rev. Richard Brennan was bom in this city, 
and was educated in the Jesuit Colleges of St. 
Francis Xavier, New York City, and St. John's, Fordham, 
and was ordained priest by the late Archbishop Hughes, 
on the 3d of May, 1857. Having completed twenty- 
one years' service in the priesthood, and having during 
that long period ministered to the extensive and scattered 
parish of Port Jervis, N. Y., and the new parish of 
the Holy Name, at Bloomingdale, New York City, he 
has brought to his present position the experience neces- 
sary to continue the good work of his predecessor. To- 
gether with the performance of the many duties that 
require the attention of a Catholic pastor, he has, ap- 
preciating the words of our Holy Father Pius IX. of 
happy memory, concerning the dissemination of Catho- 
lic literature, translated Monseigneur Graume's celebrated 
work, entitled, " Le Cimetiere dans le Dix-neuvieme 
Siecle" (The Cemetery in the Nineteenth Century), writ- 
ten in defense and explanation of the rites and cere- 



636 



CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 



monies with which the Cathohc Church consigns the 
Ijodies of her children to their temporary resting-place in 
the consecrated burial ground. He had also written a 
" Life of Pius IX.," which has proved its great popu- 
larity by its enormous sale. A ''Life of Cln-ist," -written 
by him, is now in press. 

As assistant pastors, besides E.ev. Patrick J. Daly, 
who ministered faithfully during seven years, being then 
transferred to Croton Falls, N. Y., as pastor, there were 
the Rev. James Mee, appointed in 1870, now pastor at 
Milton, N. Y., and the Eev. E. Th. McGinley, appointed 
in July, 1873, and the Rev. E. J. O'Gorman, appointed 
in September, 1875, the two latter being the present 
assistant priests to Rev. Mr. Brennan. 

Though relatively a young parish, St. Rose's has 
established all the societies and sodalities which tend to 
develop and increase the piety of both young and old. 
Among those is the St. Vincent de Paul Society, the 
Young Men's Catholic Association, the Sodality of the 
Immaculate Conception, for young ladies; and the Holy 
Angels' Sodality, for the younger girls of the parish who 
have made their first communion ; the Rosary and Altar 
Societies, and Confraternity of the Sacred Heart. There 
being as yet no parochial school, special attention is 
given to the religious instruction of the children in the 
Sunday-school, which, since the establishment of the par- 
is! i, has been under the charge of the Sisters of Charity. 



CHUPvcn or st. rose of lima. 



637 



R 



OLL OF 



H 



ONOR, 



Ahearn, Mary, Mrs. 
Alexander, Henry. 
Barrett, Richard. 
Bradley, Charles. 
Bradley, Francis. 
Bradley, Michael. 
Bradley, Miles. 
Brady, Patrick. 
Brophy, Thomas. 
Brown, George. 
Butler, John /. 
Byrne, John J. 
Cahill, John. 
Callahan, John. 
Campbell, Mary, Mrs. 
Campbell, Thomas. 
Campbell, T. J. 
Carney, Patrick. 
Casey, Margaret, Mrs. 
Cassidy, Rose, Mrs. 
Cavanagh, Thomas H. 
Clahane, P. 
Clancy, William. 
Clarke, Mary, Mrs. 
Collins, John. 
Coman, John, Mrs. 
Conroy, John. 
Cooper, David. 
Corker, David. 
Coyne, Mary, Mrs. 
Creevy, Thomas. 
Cronin, Bernard. 
Cummings, James. 
Cunningham, Christopher. 
Cnrtis, Thomas. 
Deegan, Christopher. 
Devlin, James. 
Devlin, Michael, 
Dillon, Edward. 
Dineen, Patrick. 
Dooley, James. 
Doyle, Andrew. 
Dreelan, Morgan. 
Dunn, Patrick J. 
Earl, Ann, Mrs. 
Egan, William. 



Evans, Thomas. 
Ferrier, John J. 
Fitzsimmons, Peter. 
Fitzsimmons, Thomas. 
Gallagher, Charles. 
Gallagher, M. 
Geoghegan, William. 
George, Martha. 
Gillespie, Daniel. 
Gorman, Michael. 
Graham, Garrett W. 
Gregg, John. 
Griffin, Francis. 
Griffin, Thomas. 
Healy, Michael. 
Hinch, James. 
Hodge, Richard. 
Hogan, Mary, Mrs. 
Hogan, Redmond. 
Hogan, Thomas. 
Houston, James. 
Hughes, lane, Mrs. 
Plughes, "W. J. 
Jones, Robert. 
Kelley, Philip. 
Kelly, Alexander. 
Kennedy, William. 
Kenny, Arthur. 
Kenny, John. 
Kett, Jeremiah J. 
Lawler, Michael. 
Lillis, Patrick. 
Lyons, Michael. 
McAllister, Agnes, Mrs. 
McArdle, John. 
McCarthy, Charles. 
McCarlliy, Daniel. 
McCarthy, Eugene L. 
McCIoskey, Mary, Mrs. 
IMcConnell, John J. 
McCormick, Edward A. 
McDonald, James. 
McGee, John J. 
McGinnis, Charles. 
McGovern, John. 
McGuire, Francis. 



McKenna, Anthony. 
McKenna, William. 
McMahon, Thomas. 
Mahoney, John. 
Major, Catharine, Mrs. 
Meagher, Patrick. 
Menendez, Joseph. 
Moakley, James, 
floloney, Delia, Mrs. 
Mooney, George, Mrs. 
Mooney, Michael. 
Moran, Michael. 
Morris, Bernard. 
Morrissey, Bryan. 
Morrissey, Michael. 
Moss, Edward. 
Murphy, Bernard. 
Murphy, Daniel. 
Murphy, James T. 
Murphy, Martin. 
Murphy, Thomas. 
Nealis, John V. 
Nesbitt, Andrew P. 
O'Brien, David. 
O'Neill, John. 
O'Rourke, Paul. 
O'Toole, Felix. 
Phelan, Patrick. 
Powers, John. 
Regan, Patrick. 
Riordan, John. 
Ronaghan, Arthur. 
Schreiner, Gustav. 
Seebacher, Jacob. 
Sharkey, John. 
Slater, Edward. 
Smith, James. 
Smith, John. 
Smith, John C. 
.Stringer, Edward. 
Sullivan, John. 
Sweeny, Patrick. 
Thompson, Robert. 
Toole, John. 
Walsh, James. 
Walsh, Michael J. 




OHUECH OF THE SACKED HEART OF JESUS. 

WEST FIPTY-FERST STREET. 



CHURCH OF THE SACRED HEART OF JESUS. 

WEST FIFTY-FIRST STREET. 



H 



IS Eminence Cardinal McCloskey, in 1876, deemed 
it necessary to create a new parochial district 
on the west side of the city, to relieve the existing 
churches. To gather the faithful and organize a new 
congregation, he selected the Rev. M. J. Brophy. 

That clergyman found the Plymouth Baptist Ghurcli, 
on West Fifty-first Street, between Ninth and Tenth 
Avenues, for sale, and, deeming it adapted for the com- 
mencement of the new parish, pui-chased it, in January, 
1876, for the sum of twenty-foui* thousand five hundred 
dollars. It is a fine church, with a front of fifty-two 
feet, running back the usual depth of city lots, and can 
seat nine hundred persons. 

The interior was then fitted up for Catholic wor- 
ship, and an elegant altar erected, at the cost of one 
thousand dollars. It was ready for its destined pm-pose in 
April, and as it was to be dedicated to the Sacred 
Heart of Jesus, the Sunday within the octave of that 
feast, June 25th, was selected for the ceremony. 

It was the first church in the city to be dedicated 
to Our Lord under this consoling title. Devotion to the 
Sacred Heart of Jesus had an ardent apostle in the 



640 CATHOLIC CnURCHES OF NEW YORK. 

Venerable Mother Mary of the Incarnation at Quebec, 
before Our Lord raised up the Blessed Margaret Mary 
Alacoque to be the especial instrument of diffusing it 
through the Chiistian world. Under the impulse given 
by that holy Visitation Nun, the devotion was extended, 
especially by the Fathers of the Society of Jesus, in 
their missions in Canada and Maryland. A church in 
New York was now to bear the name, to show that 
the diocese was really consecrated to the Sacred Heart. 

The new church was dedicated without and within, 
and the altar was radiant with light and floral decora- 
tions, two of the latter bearing the names of "Joseph" 
and '' Mary." The dedication service was performed by 
the Very Rev. William Quinn, Vicar General, in the ab- 
sence of his Eminence Cardinal McCloskey. The number 
of clergymen present was large, so that the procession 
was an imposing one, as, led by the cross-bearer and aco- 
lytes, it moved around the walls exteriorly and interiorl}'. 

After the sacred rite had been performed which set 
apart the church to the service of Grod under the invoca- 
tion of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, a Solemn High Mass 
was offered, the Rev. Patrick McCarthy, pastor of the Holy 
Cross, being celebrant, with the Rev. W. P. Flanelly as 
deacon, and the Rev. H. P. Baxter as subdeacon, the Rev. 
G. Miu'phy of St. Columba's acting as master of ceremonies. 

The music was Farmer's Mass in B Flat, and was 
well rendered under the direction of J. J. Hession, Jr. 



CHURCH OF THE SACRED HEART. 641 

The Eev. Dr. McGlynn of St. Stephen's Clmrch 
preached the sermon, taking as his theme the Sacred 
Heart of Jesus. 

Some remarks were then addressed to the jDCople l)y 
the Very Rev. Mr. Quinn, who, in the Cathohc church 
opened that day, found it too small for the parish, and 
urged his hearers to prepare soon to erect a far larger 
edifice. 

The church was thus opened; but there was still a 
school-house to erect, and a pastoral residence. To pay 
for these as well as for the church, '' The Church Debt 
Paying Association of the Church of the Sacred Heart 
of Jesus" was established, each member to pay five cents 
a week towards reducing the debt. 

The number of Catholics in the district was soon 
found to be very large, requiring on Sundays five 
masses besides the High Mass, including one for the 
young, at which only the children with their teachers 
were admitted. 

A Confraternity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus was 
established, and affiliated with that in Rome. There are 
also Rosary and Altar Societies, and a Conference of the 
Society of St. Vincent de Paul. 

The pastor is assisted by the Rev. Matthew A. Tay- 
lor and the Rev. Thomas F. Gregg, and by their exer- 
tions the parish has been thoroughly organized, and can 

compete with many dating back for years. 
41 



642 



CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 



Roll of Honor. 

CHURCH OF THE SACRED HEART OF JESUS, WEST FIFTY-FIRST STREET. 



Blake, John. 
Blake, W. J., Mrs. 
Brady, Ann. 
Brady, E. 
Brady, Philip. 
Brennan, B., Mrs. 
Bro^an, Ann. 
Brophy, Edmund. 
Buckley, J. 
Byrne, Bernard. 
Byrne, Melissa. 
Byrne, Michael. 
Canary, Michael. 
Can field, C, Mrs. 
Carey, Robert. 
Carroll, A. 
Carroll, James. 
Carroll, John. 
Cassidy, J. 
Clark, 'Patrick. 
Clifford, C, Mrs. 
Collins, Patrick. 
Connolly, Edmund. 
Considine, J. 
Corbett, Michael. 
Cornet, John H., Mrs. 
Corr, A. M., Mrs. 
Coyle, Rose, Mrs. 
Cull, C. 

Cunningham, E. 
Curran, John. 
Dalton, James. 
Delaney, Andrew, Mrs. 
Delaney, P., Mrs. 
Devlin, John. 
Donnell, Thomas. 
Donnelly, Hugh. 
Donohue, Michael. 
Donovan, Richard, Mrs. 
Doris, James. 
Dougherty, James F. 
Douglierty, John. 
Dowdell, Thomas. 
Doyle, B. 
Ducey, B. 
Dunne, Pierce. 
Dwyer, M. 

Eccleston, Elizabeth, Mrs. 
Eagan, James. 
Eagan, M. A. 
Farley, Peter, Mrs. 
Feeley, Owen. 
Finley, Mary, Mrs. 



Fitzgerald, Patrick J. 
Fitzpatrick, John. 
Flanly, John. 
Fleming, Thomas. 
Flynn, B. 
Fogarty, James. 
Foran, Thomas. 
Fowlie, William. 
Gallagher, Thomas. 
Gorman, Mrs. 
Grimes, A. 
Hackett, James. 
Hammill, M. 
Harned, E. 
Hart, B. 
Hart, J., Mrs. 
Healy, James. 
Healy, John. 
Hennessey, D., Mrs. 
Hill, WilUam E., Mrs. 
Houlahan, E. 
Hughes, Henry. 
Hurson, Miles. 
Johnson, L. 
Kane, Mrs. 
Kearney, John W. 
Keenan, William. 
Kelley, C. 
Kelley, S., Mrs. 
Kelley, Thomas F. 
Kelly, J., Mrs. 
Kelly, M. 

Kelly, William, Mrs. 
Lahey, Dennis, Mrs. 
Lavelle, Dennis F. 
Lenane, Kate, Mrs. 
Lennon, Jeremiah. 
Lennon, John. 
Lennon, Thomas. 
Lowry, John. 
Lynch, INI. 
Lynch, Patrick. 
IMcAleer, Mary, Mrs. 
McBurnie, William. 
McCabe, P. 
McConnell, F. 
McGaughan, Francis. 
McGrann, INIary. 
McGuinnis, Nora. 
McGuire, M. 
McGuire, R. 
McHugh, Patrick. 
McKenna, James. 



McKeon, Thomas. 

McLaughlin, James. 

McLehone, Catharine, Miss. 

McNally, John. 

McNicholl, William B. 

Mahony, John. 

Mallon, Thomas. 

Markey, P. 

Mellen, Jennie E. 

Menton, Timothy. 

Mitchell, John. 

Morgan, B. 

Mulany, P. 

Mulholland, Mary. 

Murphy, T. 

Murray, Henry. 

Murray, Thomas. 

Noonan, E. 

O'Brien, David. 

O'Brien, J. 

O'Connor, Timothy. 

O'Connor, William. 

O'Donnell, Thomas. 

O'Donohue, John V. 

Ormond, William M. 

Parker, W. J. 

Powers, John. 

Quinlan, Martin. 

Quinn, John. 

Reilley, James. 

Reilley, M. 

Reynolds, A. 

Roache, J. 

Rooney, James. 

Ross, Joseph. 

Ryan, James. 

Ryan, John. 

Ryan, M., Mrs. 

Shannon, Daniel. 

Sharp, Ann. 

Shea, John. 

Smith, James. 

Smith, John. 

Starkey, Robert A. 

Taylor, Ambrose S., Mrs. 

Tliorp, Thomas. 

Vail, Thomas. 

Victory, Michael. 

Wall, Patrick. 

Walsh, James. 

Walsh, J. T. 

Waters, Michael J., Mrs. 



CHURCH OF THE SACRED HEART. 64^ 

EEV. MARTIN J. BROPHY, 

PASTOE OF THE CHUKCH OF THE SACKED HEART. 



THE founder of tlie Cliurcli of the Sacred Heart of 
Jesus was born on the 21st of June, 1846, and 
entering- the College of St. Francis Xavier, in West Fif- 
teenth Street, was graduated from that university in 1865. 
The pious training there received fostered the divine 
vocation, and choosing the place of a levite in the sanc- 
tuary of the Most High, he entered the Provincial Sem- 
inary at Troy, and, completing the curriculum of sacred 
studies, was ordained priest on the 22d of May, 1869, 
by the Most Rev. Archbishop McCloskey. 

After hi« elevation to the priesthood he was sent to 
the parish of the Iloly Cross as assistant, and labored 
efficiently in that district for several years, exhibiting all 
the zeal and energy of a good priest, with no little ad- 
ministrative ability, and the active watchfulness needed to 
rouse the adults to their Christian duties, especially in the 
proper education of their children, and in using all exer- 
tions to afford every child in the parish the advantages of 
a sound Catholic training. 

On his appointment to the new parish of the Sacred 
Heart, he entered on his work earnestly, and has gathered 
a congregation into whom he has infused a spirit of de- 
votedness and faith. 



CHURCH OF THE SACRED HEART OF JESUS. 

HIGH BKIDGE. 



A 



S Catholics increased in all parts of the city, church 
after church was erected, though men living can 
recollect when the island and the adjacent country was 
all one parish — St. Peter's. 

The people in the neighborhood of High Bridge were 
too far from the surrounding churches to attend them 
easily. 

The Most Eminent Cardinal McCloskey, in June, 1875, 
selected the Rev. James Augustine Mullin to establish 
a parish here. He began his labors with earnestness, 
placing his parish under the protection of the Sacred 
Heart of Our Lord, and celebrated his first mass in a 
hall near High Bridge, June 20, 1875. In a short time 
he purchased a suitable site for a church, which was in- 
corporated as " The Church of the Sacred Heart, New 
York City," January 13, 1876. The corner-stone was laid 
on the 28tli of May, and during the year the Eev. 
James A. Mullin, by unwearied exertions, succeeded in 
completing the Church of the Sacred Heart, at a cost 
of about twenty thousand dollars. 



646 CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 

The neAv cliurcli was dedicated to God's holy service 
on tlie 21st of October, 1877, by his Eminence Cardinal 
McCloskey. The beautifull}^ situated and neatly decorated 
church was crowded, though the weather was stormy. 
The procession was an imposing one, as, led by cross- 
bearer and acolytes, priests from many of the city 
churches, and finally a prince of the Holy Church, moved 
around the sacred edifice, then entered, and, passing up 
the centre aisle, made the circuit of the church within, 
performing the whole dedication service in its fullest cere- 
monial rite. 

After the dedication service a Solemn High Mass was 
offered up, the Most Eminent Cardinal the Archbishop 
of New York occujDying a tin-one in the sanctuar}^. 
The Rev. Mr. Morris of the Church of the Epiphany was 
the celebrant. The sermon of the day was preached by 
the Rev. Father Merrick of the Society of Jesus, his text 
being, " How terrible is this place : truly it is the house 
of God and the gate of heaven." 

At the close of the mass after the Pontifical Blessing, 
his Eminence praised the pastor of the new church for 
his devotion to a good work, and the people for the 
energy which they had displayed ; but he urged them to 
liquidate promptly the small debt still remaining, as their 
church could scarcely be called the house of God while 
men had any claim upon it. 

The church is a very beautiful Gothic structure. 



CHURCH OF THE SACRED HEART OF JESUS. 647 

facing Central Avenue, and standing in a plot of eight 
and a half lots neatly graded and shaded by ornamental 
trees. 

It is about forty-five feet in width by eighty-five in 
depth, with three aisles, the floors of durable Georgia 
pine, and the pews of ash and black walnut not excelled 
by those in any of the city churches. There is a fine 
High Altar beautifully wrought and surmounted by an 
elegant oil painting representing the Sacred Heart. There 
are to be two side altars dedicated to the Blessed Virgin 
and St. Joseph, whose paintings are already placed above 
the spots where the side altars are to stand. These three 
paintings are the gift to the church of Mrs. Dodin of 
New York City. The sanctuary is neatly carpeted with 
Brussels carpet, and is entered from two sanctuaries 
whicli communicate behind the altar by means of a cov- 
ered passage. 

A large Gothic ornamental window of stained-glass 
adorns the front of this elegant church, and stained-glass 
windows at the sides mellow the light that falls across 
the aisles and nave. 

So active have been the exertions of the pastor and 
the religious spirit of his flock, that the church is al- 
most entirely paid for, the whole debt on church and 
grounds not exceeding twenty-five hundred dollars. 



G48 



CATHOLIC CHUllCIIES OF NEW YORK. 



R 



OLL OF 



H 



ONOR, 



CHURCH OF THE SACRED HEART OF JESUS, HIGH BRIDGE. 



Baker, Peter. 
Boden, Martin. 
Brady, John. 
Brady, Thomas. 
Breen, Michael. 
Bryan, Patrick. 
Carr, P. 
Carr, Thomas. 
Courtney, John. 
Fitzpatrick, James. 
Gaffiiey, Daniel, 



Hanley, Mrs. 
Hayes, Mrs. 
Holmes, James. 
Kennedy, Rose. 
McGrane, Edward. 
McLoughlin, John. 
Reilly, Mrs. 
Sevox, John. 
Spellman, John. 
Tierney, M. 
Woods, Benjamin. 





t ^-^F^^-^WiJe^^Xt^ (yltu^olun^'^ 



CHURCH OF THE SACKED HEART OF JESUS. 649 



REV. JAMES AUGUSTINE MULLIN, 

PASTOE OF THE CHUECH OF THE SACEED HEAET OF JESUS, 
NEW YOEK CITY. 



^ 1 ^HE Rev. James Augustine Mullin was born about 
i the year 1839, in the north of Ireland, and when 

a boy came to the United States. At an early age he 
entered mercantile business, and through his energy and 
perseverance amassed quite a fortune. Having learned the 
vanity of the world, and being desirous to labor for the sal- 
vation of souls he entered St. John's College, Fordham, 
in 1863, and, after pursuing a course of study there, was 
graduated July 2, 1866. A few months later he entered 
the Provincial Seminary at Troy, and at the close of his 
ecclesiastical studies he was ordained, on the 16th of No- 
vember, 1869, at Troy. His first mission was n,t the 
Church of the Immaculate Conception in Fourteenth Street. 

He was then for nearly three years at Port Jervis, 
laboring in that parish and its missions, which extend for 
seventy miles. From this he was transferred to the 
Charch of St. Augustine, at Morrisania, and then to St. 
Rose of Lima, New York. 

He was intrusted, in June, 1875, with the organiza- 
tion of a new parish, being the first pastor appointed 
by his Eminence after his elevation as a Prince of the 
Church, and the first priest appointed to erect a church in 
New York City in honor of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. 




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CHURCH OF SAINT STANISLAUS (POLISH). 

STANTON STREET. 



THE Catholic people of Poland have ever been re- 
spected by the Americans, who could not forget 
the services of Pulaski and Kosciusko, or behold unmoved 
their g'allant but unsuccessful efforts to liberate their na- 
tive land from the power of Russia, 

For many years there was, however, but little emi- 
gration to this country ; but in 1834, after the defeat 
of the Polish armies, a number arrived, for whom a gen- 
eral sympathy was felt. Congress, by the act of June 
30th in that year, granted them part of the public lands 
in Michigan and Illinois. 

As a general rule, they did not settle together, but, 
soon acquiring English, mingled with other Catliolics in 
our churches, enjoying occasionally the ministry of a 
priest of their own nation. 

Within a few years, however, the number of Poles 
in this city and elsewhere has so increased that they 
are gradually forming separate congregations, where in- 
struction is given in their native tongue. 

In 1874, a Polish priest, Rev. Adalbert Mielinszny, 
was temporarily authorized by the Most Reverend Arch- 



652 CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 

bishop to collect the Poles on the east side of the city 
and minister to their spiritual wants. He secured some 
property on Henry Street, and arranged No. 318 as a 
temporary church. There were many difficulties to con- 
tend with, the mass of the Polish Catholics being poor, 
and no little hostility was manifested towards them by 
the neighbors. 

In 1876, the Rev. F. H. Wayman was appointed, 
and soon placed the church on a better footing. Finding, 
however, that the place was not well adapted for a 
church for his people, and remonstrances having been 
made from the English-speaking church in whose paro- 
chial limits the Henry Street property stood, he looked 
out for a more advantageous site. A building was soon 
found, erected by the Methodists on the south-east corner 
of Forsyth and Stanton Streets, which had passed from 
the hands of the disciples of Wesley and been recently 
used as a synagogue. This was purchased by the E,ev. 
Mr. Wayman for twenty thousand dollars, and the interior 
entirely remodeled to adapt it for use as a Catholic 
church. 

On Sunday, July 14th, 1878, it was solemnly dedi- 
cated by the pastor. The interior was decorated with flow- 
ers and green branches, Avhile over the entrance floated 
the American and Polish flags and the Papal standard. 
After the performance of the rite of dedication, a Solemn 
High Mass was offered, the Rev. Eugene Dikovich of 



CHUKCH OF ST. STANISLxVUS. 653 

the Order of St. Francis, pastor of the Church of St. 
Francis Seraph, being the celebrant; Rev. Mr. Eberhardt, 
deacon ; Rev. Mr. Guntzer, subdeacon ; and Rev. ]\Ir. 
Wolf, master of no^^ces ; Rev. Matthew Nicot, assistant. 
The sermon Avas preached by the Rev. Mr. Way- 
man, who began by expressing his warm gratitude to 
his Eminence Cardinal McCloskey for permitting and 
encom-aging the Catholic Poles to erect a church of 
their own in his episcopal city. He had on this auspi- 
cious occasion sent them a special blessing-, which the 
pastor proceeded to pronounce over his kneeling congre- 
gation. He then dwelt on the life of St. Stanislaus, 
Bishop of Cracow and martyr, the holy patron of their 
church. A child of prayer, born of aged parents at 
Sezepanow, July 26th, 1030, a youth of piety led him to 
studies for the holy priesthood, and in that sacred state 
to the most zealous and edifying labors. He became a 
model of priests, the great reliance of his bishop, after 
whose death the universal voice called him to the see. 
In the position of bishop he was the father of his 
clergy and people, and especially of the poor. When no 
one dared rebidie the tyrant Boleslas II. for his crimes, 
and denounce him with the vengeance of God if he did 
not abandon his sinful and horrible life, he intrepidly 
declared to the wretched man the truths of religion. The 
Saint's visits proved unavailing, and, after a fourth visit, 
finding him obdurate, the bishop excommunicated him. 



G54 CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 

Then the king followed St. Stanislaus to a chapel, to which 
he had retired, and ordered his guards to kill the holy man. 
When they shrank from such a crime, the king, taunt- 
ing them as cowards, rushed forward and dispatched him 
with his own hands. 

The guilty king soon fled from his kingdom ; and 
as God honored his martyred servant by many miracles, 
St. Stanislaus was solemnly canonized in 1253. 

The reverend pastor alluded to the struggles which 
the congregation had made, and to the condition of 
their brethren in Prussian and Russian Poland, and of 
the persecutions to which they were subjected. 

In the evening Rev. A. Tonner officiated at the 
Solemn Vespers and Benediction of the Blessed Sacra- 
ment. 




l-i^l'f-icl'J' 



'L^yO'i^i-'ei^ 



■O'-U'^^ti^'^-. 



^ 



CHUKCH OF ST. STANISLAUS. 655 



REV. FRANCIS XAVIER WAYMAN, 

PASTOE OF THE CHUECH OF ST. STANISLAUS. 



THE pastor of the Church of St. Stanislaus, bishop 
and martyr, the Rev. Francis Xavier Wayman, 
was born on the 25th of November, 1842, in the Diocese 
of Posen, one of the two of which the great confessor 
for the faith, Cardinal Ledochowski, is archbishop. In 
order to prepare himself for the ecclesiastical state, he 
entered the seminary in the city of Grlogau, Silesia, in 
the year 1861, and, having completed his theological 
course, was ordained priest on the 14th of June, 1865. 
He exercised the ministry in his native country till the 
war with the French and the persecutions of the Church 
by the inhuman Emperor of Germany, in consequence 
of which he came to this country on the 9th of Jan- 
uary, 1876. 

He was received into the Diocese of New York by 
his Eminence Cardinal McCloskey, and assigned to duty 
as assistant at St. Nicholas Church. Herb he labored 
acceptably for a year and a half, when his Eminence, 
loth to see the attempt of the Catholic Poles fail with- 
out their being able to build up a church, requested the 



G5G CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 

Rev. Mr. Wayman to undertake the somewhat difficult 
task in wliich one priest had ah'eady failed. 

The Rev. Mr. Waynian showed an acti^'e and untir- 
ing- zeal, and thus far he has succeeded beyond all hope 
in building up a congregation, and securing a more 
suitable chiu-ch edifice than that acquired by his prede- 
cessor. 




CHURCH OF SAINT STEPHEN. 

42 EAST TWENTY-EIGHTH STKEET. 



CHURCH OF SAINT STEPHEN. 

TWENTY-EIGHTH STKEET. 



IN the month of November, 1848, an American priest, 
who had been graduated with distinction at Rome, 
the E,ev. Jeremiah W. CmnmingSj was appointed by the 
Right Reverend John Hughes, then Bishop of New York, 
to organize a new parochial district and erect a church. 
A site, deemed a very eHgible one, on Madison 
Avenue, at the corner of Twenty-seventh Street, one 
hundred feet in front by one hundred and seventy-three 
feet in depth, was purchased, giving space for church, 
parochial residence, and schools. The quarter was an at- 
tractive one, and everything promised favorably for the 
new church. 

Dr. Cummings, late as the season was, began opera- 
tions at once. His first step was to erect a plain, sub- 
stantial building, as the temporary church, which might 
subsequently at little cost be transformed into a paro- 
chial school. Collections were made in various churches 
of this city and Brooklyn, and among Catholic societies, 
to aid in the good work, the new pastor by lectures 
and otherwise making his project known. The temporary 
church was completed at a cost of fourteen thousand 



CHURCH OF ST. STEPHEN. 659 

dollars, and was ready as the feast approached of the 
proto-martyr in whose honor it was to be dedicated. 

That solemn ceremony was performed on Sunday, 
the 23d day of December, 1849, by the Right Rever- 
end Bishop Hughes, with all the rites prescribed, a large 
attendance of clergy gathering to add their prayers that 
the new church might redound to the honor of God and 
the salvation of souls. The Right Reverend Bishop 
preached during the Solemn High Mass, reading as his 
text Ephesians iv., descriptive of the Church of Christ, 
and of the relation of the members to its Divine Head. 
He then dwelt on the external order and beauty of the 
church ; he depicted the love and charity within, bind- 
ing the members together into one community, and giv- 
ing the Church that life which is manifested in the 
works of mercy performed by the Sisters of Charity and 
other orders. 

The church was opened and celebrated with pomp 
on the feast of its holy patron, St. Stephen, the deacon, 
the proto-martyr of the Christian Church, whose death 
is so beautifully recorded by the inspired writer of 
the Book of the Acts of the Apostles. 

Soon after the erection of this edifice, however, an 
event occurred which defeated the original idea of the 
pastor, and made the site no longer desirable or even 
endurable for a Catholic church. The Harlem Railroad 
Company became the proprietors of the rest of the 



660 



CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 



block on which this building stood, and desired the 
possession of the whole square. The noise and din, 
the unseemly acts and language of the men in the 
employ of the railroad, were a constant annoyance, 
even dming the solemn moments when the august sacri- 
fice was offered. The site, with its buildings, was accord- 
ingly sold, on the 6th of January, 1853, to those who 
coveted it, for forty-six thousand dollars, and new grounds 
were purchased on the north side of Twenty-eighth Street, 
near Lexington Avenue, and south side of Twenty-ninth 
Street. 

The new church was designed by James Renwick, 
architect; the lots cost about forty thousand dollars, and 
the edifice, with its fitting up, including ornaments, vest- 
ments, sacred vessels, &c., about fifty thousand dollars, 
without including a fine organ made by Henry Erben. 

St. Stephen's was one of the finest churches up to 
that time reared by the Catholics of New York City. 
It was opened on the 5th of March, 1854, though the 
solemn dedication was deferred till the return of the 
Most Reverend Archbishop Hughes, who had gone to 
Cuba for his health. On the opening day, the High 
Mass was offered by the Very Rev. William Starrs, 
Vicar General. The solemn dedication took place on the 
/21st of May. The ceremony was performed by the 
Most Reverend Archbishop, who delivered an impressive 
sermon during the Solemn High Mass which followed. 



CHURCH OF ST. STEPHEN. 661 

His text was taken from the Epistle of St. James, and 
the discourse, which has been preserved, and appears in 
his works, is devoted to rehgion, what constitutes it, and 
its importance. Drawing the hne between mere opinions 
and a revealed religion, he said: "This attaches us to 
God, makes us understand whence we come, for what 
purpose we exist, and those primary dogmas — not opin- 
ions, but established revelation ; for if opinions were all 
that could be presented in the name of religion, it 
would not have been worth while for the people of 
this congregation to make the sacrifices necessary to 
erect this structure. If morality can exist in the world 
without religion, this is a waste of money, as was said 
by one when the feet of our Saviour were anointed. 

" This church is this day dedicated to God for the 
purpose of perpetuating religion — so important in the at- 
tainment of your salvation, so important in the hopes 
of your rising families, so important to you in the 
prospective view of your old age." 

The collection of the day towards paying the cost 
of the church amounted to twelve hundred and sixty- 
nine dollars. The yearly expenses of the new church 
were about seven thousand dollars, while the collections 
and pew rents exceeded this, so as to leave annually 
about three thousand dollars to apply on a debt of 
thirty thousand. 

The Rev. Dr. Cummings had been assisted in the 



662 



CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 



old cliurch by the Kev. Joseph Andrade, and in the 
new St. Stephen's also by the Rev. William H. Clowry. 

St. Stephen's Church, from its beauty and the great 
merit of the choir, became one of the attractions of 
New York City, and was frequented, especially on Sun- 
day at vespers, by so many strangers as to cause an- 
noyance to the devout. 

Among the distinguished Catholics whom the con- 
gregation numbered were for many years the illustrious 
Dr. Orestes A. Brownson and his family. 

The catechetical instructions at St. Stephen's were 
well organized. The Sunday-schools were soon well at- 
tended, and both the boys' and girls' departments under 
competent superintendents and teachers, who, by visits to 
the families in the parish, gathered more than a thou- 
sand children, who were thoroughly instructed in their 
faith and Christian duties. 

The Rev. Dr. Cummings continued to direct the 
flock gathered under the patronage of St. Stephen till 
his death, January 4, 1866, although his later years 
were checkered by long and painful illness that inca- 
pacitated him for active exercise. 

One of the interesting events of this period was the 
baptism, July 7, 1861, of a young Persian, Alahab Shira- 
zazazals, who renounced the Koran and received at the 
font the name of Andrew 

Dr. Cummings was born in Washington City, in April, 



CHURCH OF ST. STEPHEN. 663 

1814, and was early left to the care of a pious motlier, 
from whom he received almost all his early training. 
On her removal to New York she placed her son at the 
college at Nyack, founded by Bishop Du Bois, after 
which he went to Rome, and in the College of the 
Propaganda showed great ability and laid up a store of 
sound theological learning, which his clear intellect and 
sound judgment enabled him to apply to important ques- 
tions in life. After winning his doctor's cap he returned, 
and was for a time at the Cathedral, till he undertook 
the formation of St. Stephen's parish. He was a thorough 
scholar, an accomplished linguist and musician, and a 
successful writer. As a preacher and lecturer he evinced 
remarkable ability. 

During his long pastorship he was assisted by a 
number of priests, some of whom have since reared and 
directed new churches in our city. They were Rev. W, 
H. Clowry, 1857-60; Rev. J. L. Doyle, 1858-61; Rev. 
J. Orsenigo, Rev. John Larkin, 1862-4; Rev. James 
Quinn, 1864 ; Rev. L. Gambosville, 1865-7 ; and the 
Rev. E. McGlynn, D.D., who attended him in his last 
moments and succeeded him as pastor. 

Before the death of Dr. Cummings it became evi- 
dent that the church was much too small for the Cath- 
olics of the district to whom the clergy ministered. It 
was resolved to extend St. Stephen's through to the 
next street. This work was began in the year 1865 by 



664 



CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 



Dr. Cummings, and finished in 1866 by the Rev. Dr. Mc- 
Glynn, at a cost of one hundred thousand dollars, every- 
thing being of the most grand and imposing character. 

The blue vaulted and fretted ceiling is sustained by 
graceful pillars and studded with stars ; the light pours 
in through beautiful stained-glass windows, casting their 
many-colored hues on pew and marble aisle. The paint- 
ing above the high altar is a Crucifixion by Brumidi, 
forty-six feet high by twenty-eight wide ; the altar-piece 
of Our Lady's altar is an exquisite Immaculate Con- 
ception ; and that of St. Joseph's is the Martyrdom of 
St. Stephen ; while other paintings adorn the side walls 
and that on Twenty-eighth Street. 

The three marble altars are the finest ever seen in 
a Catholic church in this country. They were made by 
Fisher & Bird, after designs by P. C. Keely; the 
material is the purest white Vermont statuary marble, the 
design Gothic, literally covered with tracery and sculp- 
ture. The high altar is twenty-four feet six inches high by 
seventeen feet six inches wide ; the central portion con- 
;taining the tabernacle and exposition niclie tapers grace- 
fully to the cross, which surmounts it. On each side in 
the supporting buttress is the figure of an angel. 

At the side of the tabernacle are basso-relievos 
representing the Resurrection and the Ascension of Our 
Lord. Four angels holding candelabra sm'mount the cor- 
nice above these. The steps above the altar table are 



CHURCH OF ST. STEPHEN. 665 

ornamented with richly carved inscriptions. The front of 
the altar has in the center the Entombment of Our Lord 
in basso-relievo, and in the niches between the clusters 
of rich columns at the sides are four angels bearing 
shields, on which are depicted the implements of the Pas- 
sion. Of the basso-relievos at the sides, one represents 
the two Marys going to the tomb, and the other, St. 
Peter and St. John. The candlesticks, in keeping with 
the design of the altar and the tabernacle door, which 
bears a figure of Our Lord, are of bronze gilt. 

The side altars, though less grand and elaborate, 
harmonize in style, and are surmounted by pure white 
statues of the Blessed Virgin and St. Joseph. 

The extension of the church and the grandeur of 
the temple did not alone occupy the thoughts of the 
pastor. To meet the spiritual wants of his flock and give 
the lukewai-m and careless every opportunity to recover 
a religious tone and return to the practice of their 
duties, he prepared, in the autumn of 1867, for a mis- 
sion to be given by the Redemptorist Fathers on a scale 
yet unseen. In announcing it to his flock, the Rev. Dr. 
McGlynn said: "I take this opportunity of repeating my 
most anxious wish and prayer that none of the people 
of the parish will allow this time of special grace and 
blessing to pass away unimproved, reminding all that 
they may never again have so good an opportunity, as 
there will be some eighteen or twenty Redemptorist 



666 CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 

Fathers devoted exclusively to their service during the 
whole time of the mission." 

These exercises showed the immense number of Cath- 
olics in the district, and at their close the Most Reverend 
Archbishop administered confirmation to two thousand nine 
hundred persons. 

Another work growing out of the increased vitality 
of the Catholics of the parish was St. Stephen's Home 
for Destitute Children, established in East Twenty-eighth 
Street. This included a charity school for girls, and has 
been maintained to the present time under the direction 
of eight Sisters of Charity, the number of children in 
the Home being about one hundred and fifty. An In- 
dustrial Home for girls out of employment also grew 
up with this good work. 

The parish, with a Catholic population of nearly 
twenty-five thousand, requires, of com-se, the services of 
several priests, and the Rev. Dr. McGlynn has had as 
assistants the Rev. John McEvoy, 1866-7; Rev. E. F. 
X. McSweeny, D.D., 1867-8; Rev. Terence J. Early, 
1868; Rev. J. J. Grifiin, 1869-70; Rev. John C. Henry, 
1869-72 ; Rev. A. Dantner, 1870-2 ; Rev. Charles Mc- 
Cready, 1871-7 ; Rev. John McQuirk, 1872-3 ; Rev. E. 
J. Flynn, 1872-4; Rev. John Power, 1873-4; Rev. W. 
P. Costigan, 1874-7; Rev. T. A. CarjjiDll, 1875-6; Rev. 
J. J. McCauley; Rev. J. 0. Byron. 

In the year 1877 the chui'ch was put in complete 



CHURCH OF ST. STEPHEN. 



667 



repair; new stairways were put on the Twenty-eighth 
Street side, and the galleries were connected on the out- 
side of the church and doors cut in the gallery win- 
dows, so as to multiply the means of exit from the church 
The organ was also improved by new combinations, and 
the decorations generally restored. 

The Sunday-school now numbers sixteen hundred 
pupils, directed by one hundred and twenty teachers. 

Among the societies attached to the chm-ch may be 
mentioned the Confraternity of the Sacred Heart, the 
Rosary Society, and the St. Vincent de Paul Society, the 
members of these associations approaching the sacraments 
every month or every two months. 



Roll of Honor. 



Ahearn, Jeremiah. 
Ahern, Denis. 
Ahevn, Michael. 
Anderson, H. S. 
Armstrong, John F. 
Aslcin, Patrick. 
Aylward, James. 
Bagley, Thomas. 
Daily, John J., IMrs. 
Baldwin, William. 
Bannon, Francis. 
Barclay, Hemy. 
Barrett, Eugene. 
Barrett, Hanna. 
Barrett, Joseph J. 
Barrett, Nellie. 
Barrington, Benjamin, Mrs. 
Barry, Mary. 

Barry, Thomas. i 

Bartley, Thomas. ( 

Beatty, James. 
Bell, Charles, Mrs. 
Bence, George. 
Bennett, Mary M. 
Bennett, T. E., Mrs. 



Bergin, Ellen. 
Berrien, Hattie C, Mrs. 
Birkbeck, Ann E., Mrs. 
Black, Julia. 
Bones, Maggie. 
Bonney, G. F., Mrs. 
Bowen, E. S. 
Boylan, John. 
Boyland, Francis. 
Brady, Bernard. 
Brady, Owen. 
Brady, Philip. 
Brady, Rose. 
Brady, Rose M. 
Brett, James, Mrs. 
Broden, Annie, Mrs. 
Brogan, Thomas. 
Brookies, T. E. 
Brophy, J., Mrs. 
Brougham, Patrick. 
Brown, Mary. 
Brown, Thomas. 
Browne, Thomas F. 
Bryan, John. 
Buckley, Maggie. 



Buckley, Jeremiah. 
Burdon, Ann. 
Burke, Eliza, Mrs. 
Burke, John. 
Burns, Ellen. 
Burns, John. 
Burns, Sarah, Mrs. 
Burns, Susan. 
Burns, Teresa. 
Burtsell, Peter V. 
Butman, Alice P. 
Byrenes, Margaret. 
Byrne, Henry, Mrs. 
Byrne, Thomas J. 
Cahill, Ellen. 
Cahill, Mary. 
Cain, Peter. 

Callahan, Catharine, Mrs. 
Callahan, Cornelius. 
Caiman, Denis. 
Campion, Thomas. 
Cannon, Mar<garet C. 
Canton, Patrick, 
Carey, Elizabeth. 
Carey, Jennie M. 



668 CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 


Carley, Thomas F. 


Curran, Michael. 


Farrell, Michael, Mrs. 


Carlisle, Julia. 


Curry, Edward. 


Farren, Joseph. 


Carney, Ann. 


Daly, Thomas. 


Fee, Susan. 


Carr, Patrick. 


Daly, William. 


Feeney, Bernard. 


Carroll, Eliza. 


Darragh, John. 


Feeney, Maggie. 


Carroll, E. L. 


Dee, B., Miss. 


Fenton, Thomas. 


Carroll, Mary Ann. 


Defrates, Joseph D., Mrs. 


Ferris, Peter. 


Carten, Kate A. 


Deegan, Ellen. 


Ferris, Thomas. 


Casserly, John, Mrs. 


Dejanon, Louis L. 


Finnigan, Bridget. 


Cassidy, Hugh. 


Delaney, James. 


Fitzgerald, James. 


Cassidy, Patrick. 


Delany, Martin. 


Fitzgibbon, Catharine. 


Cassidy, Philip. 


Dennis, C. 


Fitzpatrick, John. 


Caulfield, Maggie. 


De Rivera, Henry C. 


Fitzpatrick, Rose, Miss. 


Cavanagh, Mary. 


Desdy, Mary. 


P'itzpatrick, William P. 


Churchill, Franklin H. 


Devin, John. 


Fitzsimmons, Catharine. 


Claffey, Ellen. 


Devin, John C. 


Fitzsimmons, Elizabeth. 


Clancy, Matthew. 


Deviney, M. J. 


Fitzsimmons, James. 


Clark, Mary A. 


Devlin, John E. 


Flanagan, James. 


Cleary, Julia, Miss. 


Devlin, Margaret. 


Flanigan, Ellen, Mrs. 


Cleary, Michael. 


Dewane, Ann, Mrs. 


Fleming, Martin J. 


Clifford, Rose, Mrs. 


Dillon, Philip. 


Flynn, Kyran, Mrs. 


Clinch, Charles P. 


Dinsmore, Bryant W., Mrs. 


Foley, John. 


Clinton, Lizzie. 


Dinsmore, Samuel P., Mrs. 


Foucard, Marius. 


Clyne, Edward F. 


Docharty, Augustus T. 


Fowler, George M. 


Cody, Michael J. 


Dolan, Bridget M. 


Fowler, James D., Mrs. 


Coffey, Michael, Mrs. 


Dolan, Ellen. • 


Fox, Mary E. 


Cogley, Peter. 


Dolan, John B. 


Francis, R., Mrs. 


Colahan, John. 


Donar, iNIichael, Mrs. 


Franklin, Alaria, Mrs. 


Coleman, John J. 


Donegan, Mary, Mrs. 


Gaffigan, Thomas J. 


Coleman, Michael. 


Donohoe, Owen. 


Gaffney, Bartholomew. 


Collins, Lawrence. 


Donovan, S. J. 


Gaffney, Timothy. 


Connelly, Edward J. 


Dooley, Thomas. 


Gahn, William, Mrs. 


Connor, William. 


Dorris, James. 


Gainey, Timothy. 


Connors, Mary. 


Dorrity, Farrell. 


Garrish, John Pool. 


Conroy, George. 


Dougherty, Felix. 


Garvey, Eliza. 


Conway, Arthur. 


Dougherty, Margaret. 


Garvey, Rose M. 


Conway, Daniel. 


Dowling, Eliza. 


Geary, William Henry. 


Conway, Edward. 


Doyle, James. 


Gibert, Anna M., ]\Irs. 


Conway, John R. 


Doyle, Francis. 


Gibert, J. T., Mrs. 


Conway, Mary. 


Dudgeon, Mai-y. 


Gilfoyle, James F. 


Conway, Patrick J. 


Duffy, Bernard C, Mrs. 


Gilmagh, Ann. 


Conway, Susan. 


Duffy, James. 


Gilmartin, Honora. 


Coogan, James W., Mrs. 


Duffy, John. 


Gilmore, Luke. 


Cooney, Mary Ann. 


Dugan, Frank A. 


Gleason, John, Mrs. • 


Corcoran, Elizabeth, Mrs. 


Dugan, John. 


Gogarty, Michael. 


Corr, Patrick. 


Duke, Judith, Mrs. 


Gorman, Elizabeth. 


Corey, Rose, 


Dunn, Margaret, Mrs. 


Gorman, John. 


Corrigan, Michael. 


Durkin, Patrick, Mrs. 


Gormley, Bernard. 


Costello, Bernard. 


Dwyer, Bernard. 


Gormley, Owen. 


Costello, James. 


Earle, Eugene M., Mrs. 


Grace, William. 


Coudert, Frederic R. 


Early, Mary A. 


Grady, James. 


Coughlin, Patrick J. 


Egan, Hannah. 


Greehy, Luke. 


Coughlin, Richard. 


Egan, Mary. 


Griffith, John. 


Courtney, Henry H. 


Elliott, John, Mrs. 


Gross, Andrew. 


Craig, Frank E. 


Emmet, Thomas Addis. 


Guidet, Charles. 


Craig, Patrick, Mrs. 


English, Michael, Mrs. 


Haag, Margareta. 


Crocheron, J., Mrs. 


Everard, James. 


Haggerty, W. M. 


Cronin, Catharine, Mrs. 


Everett, Annie. 


Haight, Daniel. 


Crowe, Martha F. 


Fagan, John. 


Hamilton, James A., Mrs. 


Cuff, P. 


Fallen, Anne. 


Hanfey, Maggie. 


Cunningham, Bernard. 


Farley, Matthew, Mrs. 


Hanlon, Ellen W., Mrs. 


Curley, Anne. 


Farley, Michael, Mrs. 


Hanlon, Mary. 


Curley, Mary, Mrs. 


Farrell, Ellen. 


Hannagan, R., Mrs. 


Curran, Maggie L. 


Farrell, John. 


Hannon, James. 



I 

I 







CHURCH OF ST. STEPHEN. 669 




Harberger, John S. 


Kelly, Hugh. 


McGonigal, David. 




Harnett, Daniel. 


Kelly, Mary. 


McGovern, Martha. 




Harrigan, John. 


Kelly, N. S. 


McGovern, P. J. 




Harrion, Anna. 


Kennedy, Kate. 


McGowan, Catharine. 




Harris, Charles N. 


Kenney, Peter. 


McGowan, James. 




Harris, Patrick. 


Kenny, Ann, Mrs. 


McGowan, John T. 




Hart, Sarah. 


Kent, Julia A. 


McGrath, William T. 




Hartwell, Daniel. 


Kerns, Jane. 


McGuire, Alice. 




Havemeyer, T. A., Mrs. 


Kerrigan, Patrick, Mrs. 


McGuire, Bridget T. 




Haven, George G. 


Kiernan, C, Mrs. 


McGuire, Elizabeth. 




Playslip, George J. 


Kilduff, Bernard. 


McGuire, Alichael. 




Healy, John W. 


King, Julia. 


McGuire, Murtha. 




Hearn, John, Mrs. 


Knox, David W. 


McGuirk, Mary Ann. 




Hearne, Patrick. 


Laden, John, Mrs. 


McGurrin, E., Mrs. 




Heavey, John F. 


Lafferty, Mary. 


McKenna, Bernard. 




Henness, James. 


Tally, Rose. 


McLaughlin, Margaret. 




Hennessey, David. 


Lannin, Annie. 


McLoughlin, Patrick. 




Hennessey, James H. 


Larkin, John 


McMahon, Esther. 




Hennessy, John. 


La Sack, Mary. 


McMahon, Thomas. 




Henry, Peter. 


Lasala, Francis F. 


McManus, John. 




Hernon, James. 


Lavelle, Patrick. 


McNabb, Patrick, 




Hickey, Peter J. 


Lawrence, Bryan. 


McNally, Alice. 




Higgins, E. S., Mrs. 


Leahy, John. 


McNally, Bridget. 




Higgins, James. 


Leary, Kate. 


McNally, Margaret. 




Higgins, John. 


Leary, Margaret. 


McNamara, Ellen. 




Higgins, Thomas. 


Ledwith, Catharine. 


McNulty, Michael. 




Hoare, Thomas. 


Leland, Charles E., Mrs. 


McQuade, Mary. 




Hoey, Mary. 


Lenehan, Mary. 


McShcrry, J. 




Hogan, Bridget, Miss. 


Leonard, Kate. 


McSweeny," Daniel E. 




Hogan, Bridget, Mrs. 


Leonard, Thomas. 


McTeigue, Margaret, Mrs. 




Hogan, Maria. 


Leverich, S. M., Miss. 


McWade, James. 




Hoguet, Antoinette, Mrs 


Lockridge, Rosanna, Mrs. 


McWilliams, Feli.x. 




Holden, John F. 


London, Ellen. 


Madden, Bridget. 




Holy, J., Mrs. 


Looram, Matthew, Mrs. 


Madden, Lawrence. 




• Horigan, Patrick. 


Loughran, Bridget. 


I\Iadigan, Michael S. 




Hosmer, Field Lenn, Mrs 


Lummis, William. 


Maguire, Matthew. 




Houlahan, Ellen. 


Lunny, Mary. 


Mahon, B,. Miss. 




Hoyt, F. D. 


Lynch, Patrick. 


Mahon, Mary. 




Hynes, William J. 


Lynam, Owen. 


Mahoney, iNIary. 




Igoe, Margaret, Mrs, 


Lyons, John. 


Mallon, Annie 'E. 




Irving, James. 


Lyons, William. 


Malone, John, Mrs. 




Iselin, Adrian, Mrs. 


McAuley, Margaret. 


Malone, Mary Jane. 




Ivison, William. 


INIcCabe, Henry. 


Malony, Denis, Mrs. 




Jannon, Joseph. 


McCabe, Catharine. 


Manahan, Rose, Mrs. 




Jester, Peter, Mrs. 


McCabe, Patrick. 


Martin, Ann. 




Johnson, Patrick. 


McCaffery, Sarah T- T- 


Martin, Ellen, Mrs. 




Johnston, Charles. 


McCahill, Patrick." 


Martin, M. J. 




Johnston, John. 


McCahill, Thomas J. 


Martin, Philip. 


. 


Jones, John H. 


McCarthy, Edward D. 


Masterson, Edward. 




Jones, Thomas. 


McCarthy, Kate. 


Mathews, Lizzie, Mrs. 




Jordan, Mary J. 


McCarthy, James. 


Matthews, Edward, Mrs. 




Julian, Robert. 


McCarthy, Mary, Miss. 


Meeks, John, Mrs, 




Kane, Annie. 


McConnell, Catharine. 


Michaels, Henry. 




Kavanagh, Mary. 


IMcCracken, Maggie. 


Miles, Thomas. 




Keane, Hanna C., Mrs. 


McDermott, Catharine. 


Mittey, Delia P. 




Keane, Thomas W. 


McDermott, Johanna. 


Moloney, Michael. 




Keating, Thomas F. 


McDermott, Luke. 


Moloney, P. G. 




Keelan, Anne. 


McDonald, Laurence. 


Moon, Ann. 




Keenan, Thomas. 


McDonald, Margaret. 


Mooney, John F. 




Kehoe, James, Mrs. 


McDonald, Mary. 


Moore, James. 




Kelley, Michael. 


McEveney, Anne. 


Moore, William. 




Kelly, Denis C. 


McGettigan, Robert. 


Moran, Thomas. 




Kelly, Elizabeth C. 


McGillick, Joseph. 


Morgan, Alice. 




KeUy, Hubert. 


McGinness, Andrew. 


Morgan, Daniel. 



670 



CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 



Morgan, II. R. 
IMon-ell, Patrick, Mrs. 
Mulchinock, Alice E. 
Mullally, Patrick. 
MuUally, Rosanna. 
Mullany, Catharine. 
Mullen, Mary Jane, Mrs. 
Mullen, Morris. 
MuUin, Joliii. 
Mulvaney, James. 
IMulvey, Thomas, Mrs. 
Mulvihill, Thomas. 
Murphy, Catharine. 
Murphy, Hanna. 
Murphy, James. 
Murphy, Johanna. 
Murphy, John. 
Murphy, Kate. 
Murphy, Mary C. 
Murphy, Michael J. 
Murphy, Patrick W. 
Murphy, Thomas, Mrs. 
Murphy, W., Mrs. 
Murray, Julia. 
Murray, Michael J. 
Murtha, Peter J. 
Nash, Catharine, Mrs. 
Nelson, James. 
Newman, Kate, Mrs. 
Noonan, John. 
Nooney, Robert B. 
Norman, Maggie, Mrs. 
Northrop, C. R. 
Nugent, Francis. 
Gates, Alice. 
O'Brien, Edward. 
O'Brien, Elizabeth. 
O'Brien, John. 
O'Brien, Joseph. 
O'Brien, Kate. 
O'Connell, Daniel. 
O'Connell, James W. 
O'Connor, Denis. 
O'Connor, Kate. 
O'Connor, Patrick. 
O'Connor, Terence. 
O'Donohue, Norah. 
O'Donovan, Nellie. 
Offntt, H. St. George. 
G'Hara, James. 
O'Hara, Mary A. 
O'Keeffe, James. 
O'KeeflFe, Keeffe. 
O'Meara, Michael B. 
O'Neil, Bernard. 
O'Neill, Kate. 
O'Neill, Daniel. 
O'Neill, Francis. 
O'Reilly, Francis. 
O'Rourke, James F. 
O'Sullivan, ISIichael. 
O'Sullivan, Michael, Mrs. 
O'Toole, Bernard. 
Outerson, Richard. 



Owens, Edward. 
Palmer, James F. 
Palmer, John. 
Pardey, Michael. 
Ponvert, Elias. 
Powers, Maurice. 
Preston, Mary E. 
Pursell, E. C. 
Quinlan, Kate, Miss. 
Quinn, Abraham J. 
Quinn, Margaret. 
Quinn, Thomas, Mrs, 
Ray, Mary F. 
Regan, Bessie. 
Reiley, Robert T. 
Reilly, Bernard. 
Reilly, Bridget. 
Reilly, John. 
Reilly, Katie. 
Reilly, Lawrence, Mrs. 
Reilly, Mary. 
Reming, Margaret, Mrs. 
Renehan, John. 
Reynolds, Ellen. 
Rice, Katie. 
Roche, Cornelius. 
Rose, Henry. 
Ryan, Daniel. 
Ryan, James. 
Ryan, Mary. 
Ryan, Michael. 
St. John, Edward. 
St. John, Hanna. 
Salla, Delia. 
Sampers, Mary. 
Scanlon, B. 
Scanlon, Bridget. 
Scanlon, Hanna. 
Scanlon, Thomas. 
Sendt, John, Mrs. 
Shanley, Ann, Mrs. 
Sheehan, Maria. 
Sheridan, Mary. 
Sheridan, Patrick. 
Sherlock, John. 
Slevin, Bessie. 
Sloane, Charles W. 
Smith, Alice. 
Smith, Ann. 
Smith, Cornelius, Mrs. 
Smith, James. 
Smith, John. 
Smith, Margaret. 
Smith, Mary Ellen. 
Smith, Michael. 
Smith, Peter. 
Smith, Philip. 
Spain, Ann, Mrs. 
Spencer, Ellen. 
Stack, Garret. 
Stack, Maurice, 
Stanley, C, Mrs. 
Stone, Annie. 
Stokes, James, Mrs. 



Sullivan, Ann, Mrs. 

Sullivan, Elizabeth. 

Sullivan, Hannah. 

Sullivan, John. 

Sullivan, Julia. 

Sullivan, Maggie. 

Sullivan, Mary, Mrs. 

Supple, Margaret. 

Swanton, Richard. 

Sweeney, Michael. 

Sweeny, Daniel. 

Taffe, John. 

Thebaud, Paul L. 

Tierney, John. 

Tiernan, Susan. 

Timmins, Mary Ann. 

Tobin, Mary. 

Toland, James. 

Toole, Catharine. 

Treacy, Michael J. 

Tree, Mary. 

Tucker, Catharine. 

TuUy, John. 

Venter, Catharine, Mrs. 

Wafer, Susan M. 

Walden, James T. 

Wallace, Michael. 

Walsh, Anne. 

Walsh, Catharine. 

Walsh, Edward T. 

Walsh, Estella. 

Walsh, James. 

Walsh, J. C, Mrs. 

Walsh, Lawrence. 

Ward, Margaret. 

Ward, Newman. 

Ware, Mary. 

Warren, Timothy. 

Warrington, Thomas. 

Waterman, T. M. 

Waters, Benjamin. 

Watson, J., Mrs. 

Webb, Catharine. 

Welch, Maggie. 

Welsh, Bridget. 

Welsh, E. T. 

Welsh, Henry. 

Welsh, John. 

Whelan, Bridget. 

White, James C. 

Wliite, John M. 

White, Kate. 

Wliite, Lizzie. 

Widdowson, Joseph, Mrs. 

Wilkens, C. H. 

WiUis, M., Mrs. 

Wilson, Elizabeth. 

Wines, William. 

With, Elizabeth. 

Wolforth, George, Mrs. 

Woods, Elizabeth. 

Wren, Mary. 

Wright, J., Mrs. 

Wynkoop, Matthew B., Mrs 



1 



I 







S^'^^\^\ 



Z^?Cu^ /ty(-^ ^ 



CHURCH OF ST. STEPHEN. 671 



EEV. EDWARD McGLYNN, D.D., 

PASTOR OF THE CHUECH OF ST. STEPHEN. 



THE clergyman who has now for many years 
presided in this elegant church is a native 
of New York City, and was born on the 27th of 
September, 1837. His education was received in the 
public schools and completed at the Free Academy. 

In 1850, at the age of fourteen, having shown a 
vocation for the priesthood, he was sent to Rome, and 
entered the Propaganda, where, at the end of seven 
years, he was graduated with high honors, and won the 
doctor's cap after defending his theses with unusual bril- 
Hancy. 

After being ordained priest, he was for a time vice- 
rector of the American College in Rome. A priest of 
such promise could ill be spared from the diocese, and 
he was recalled by Archbishop Hughes, who placed him 
as assistant in St. Joseph's Chm-ch, to make his essay as 
a missionary priest. He was afterwards stationed at St. 
Bridget's and St. James'. In December, 1861, he was 
appointed pastor of St. Ann's Chm'ch, but in the follow- 
ing' year was sent as chaplain to the military hospital, 



672 CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 

established by government in the Central Park, in the old 
Academy buildings of the Sisters of Charity. 

Towards the close of the year 1865, he was sent 
to St. Stephen's Church to assume the direction during 
the failing health of the Rev. Dr. Cummings, whom, as 
we have seen, he succeeded as pastor. 

In his present position he has exercised the happi- 
est influence. Devoted as a priest, far-seeing, quick to 
perceive the wants and needs of his flock, he is prompt 
and decisive in his measures. As a pulpit orator or 
leoturer he is singularly effective, combining with great 
ecclesiastical and general learning a retentive memory, a 
systematic mind, a felicity and readiness of expression, 
and great persuasive power. 

He is now assisted by the Rev. James D. Curran, 
D.D., Rev. Charles S. Colton, and Rev. Cornelius V. 
Mahoney, D.D. 

Besides his flock and the Home which he has 
created, he and his assistant priests attend also the 
Catholics in Bellevue Hospital, who form a large pro- 
portion of the thousands annually admitted there. 




43 



CHURCH OF SAINT TERESA. 

RUTGERS STREET. 



CHURCH OF SAINT TERESA. 

EUTGEES STEEET. 



WHEN St. Peter's, our first Catholic cliurcli, was 
about twelve years old, the Presbyterian body 
organized a congregation and erected a chui'ch in Rut- 
gers Street, the original wooden building being in time 
succeeded by a substantial stone edifice ; those who 
selected the site and those who reared it as a continu- 
ation of the protest against the Church of Rome little 
dreaming that they were, in fact, building better than 
they knew — erecting an edifice where the Mass was one 
day to be offered. 

With the immense increase of the congregations at 
the churches of St. Mary and St. James, a new house 
of God seemed necessary between them. The Rutgers 
Presbyterian Church, with their pastor. Rev. Dr. Krebs, 
wished to dispose of their edifice, and it was just about 
the required distance between the two existing churches. 

The Rev. James Boyce, a native of Ardagh, Ire- 
land, educated at Fordham, and who had, from liis ordi- 
nation in 1854, been a zealous assistant at St. Mary's, 
received the Archbishop's authority to proceed and or- 
ganize the new parish. In the spring of 1863 he opened 



CHURCH OF ST. TERESA, 



675 



subscriptions for his new church, which he placed under 
the invocation of the great St. Teresa, and, refusing all 
personal testimonials from the flock among which he had 
been so long ministering, he purchased the edifice from 
the Presbyterians and began to fit it up for the ancient 
liturgy of the Apostles — the service of the true Church. 
The congregation were incoi"porated under the law, the 
first trustees being the Most Reverend John Hughes, 
Archbishop of New York ; the Very Rev. William Starrs, 
V.Gr. ; Rev. James Boyce ; Jeremiah Quinlan, and Thomas 
Muldoon. All these have since, by death or resignation, 
ceased to act. 

It was formally dedicated on the 21st of June, 1863, 
by his Grace the Most Reverend Archbishop Hughes, 
who here, for the last time, performed this consoling cer- 
emony in the diocese over which he had so long and 
gloriously presided. In the Solemn High Mass which 
followed, and in which the Very Rev. William Starrs, 
V.Gr., officiated, and the Rev. Messrs. Treanor, Curran, 
Farrelly, McCarthy, Donnelly, Thomas Farrell, and others 
were present, the Archbishop delivered his last sermon. 
He was too feeble to stand, and preached sitting. We 
were in the midst of a terrible war, and he urged those 
who were to meet in this new temple of God, to pray, 
and pray earnestly, for peace. 

St. Teresa's Church thus marks, as it were, the 
close of the labors of one of the greatest members of 



676 CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 

the Catliolic hierarchy in the United States, as the Church 
of St. John the Baptist marks the commencement of his 
administration in this city. 

The church was no sooner opened than a large con- 
gregation formed, which steadily increased, and the influ- 
ence of the new parish was seen in the high place 
which St. Teresa's assumed in the lists of general col- 
lections in the city, where it disputed the very first place 
with older and apparently far more wealthy congrega- 
tions. 

No sooner was the parish organized and the Sunday- 
schools well established, than the pastor turned his at- 
tention to the great want — parochial education. In the 
year 1865 he purchased No. 10 Rutgers Street, and in 
September opened there St. Teresa's Male Academy, 
conducted by secular teachers. Two years afterwards 
he secured the adjoining house, with Nos. 155, 1552, 
and 157 East Broadway, and in these the Brothers of 
the Christian Schools, in October, 1867, opened the male 
parochial school, at the same time assuming the direction 
of the academy. 

The Christian education of the boys of liis flock 
was thus secured. To give the girls equal advantages, 
he purchased, in 1872, the property No. 139 Henry 
Street, to be used as a female academy. 

The development of the Catholic parochial schools 
had taxed the resom-ces of the communities engaged in 



CHURCH OF ST. TERESA. 677 

instructing the young, and it was difficult, in some cases, 
to give competent teachers. The Rev. Mr. Boyce, find- 
ing that the Ursuhne nuns, who had for some years a 
convent and academy at Morrisania, had so increased as 
to be able to send out a filiation of experienced Sisters, 
invited them to his parish. They accepted the oppor- 
tunity of laboring in a crowded city parish, and in 
September opened the Ursuline Convent and Academy, 
in which a community of twelve nuns of the Order of 
St. Angela Merici, reviving the labors of the Irish nuns 
years before, now maintain an excellent academy, with 
one hundred and eight young ladies as pupils. 

Groing on step by step, the zealous pastor in the 
following year purchased the adjoining house, No. 137 
Henry Street, and opened, in September, 1873, the paro- 
cliial school for girls, which is also directed by the Ur- 
sulines. 

In ten years, by the most earnest and assiduous 
labor, this priest had thus established his church, with 
academies and parochial schools for both sexes, under the 
charge of competent teachers belonging to religious com- 
munities. But it had not been efi'ected without overtask- 
ing his strength. In 1869 his health began to fail, and 
though the congregation generously subscribed a purse to 
send him abroad to recruit, the relief was but temporar}^. 

He was cordially welcomed on his return, and a per- 
fect ovation given to him. Relying on the new strength,- 



678 CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 

he resumed his usual labors, but his health soon failed, 
and he lingered during the years 1875 and 1876 till the 
exhausting heats of July completely overcame him, and 
he died on the 9th of July. 

More than a hundred priests attended the Solemn 
Requiem Mass which was offered in St. Teresa's on the 
12th by the Rev. Mr. Farrelly of St. James', Avith the 
Rev. Messrs. Farrell and Waird as deacon and subdeacon. 
The Very Rev. William Quinn, V.G., paid an eloquent 
tribute to the religious zeal of the deceased, and expressed 
the regret of his Eminence Cardinal McCloskey at the 
loss which the parish of St. Teresa had sustained. 

Dm-ing his pastorship the Rev. Mr. Boyce had been 
assisted by the Rev. E. Briady, 1864 ; Rev. P. Ferrall, 
1865-7; Rev. John Brogan, 1866-7; Rev. Hugh Flat- 
tery, 1867-73; Rev. William P. Flanelly, 1867-8; Rev. 
John McCauley, 1868-72; Rev. James J. Flood, 1872-4; 
Rev. Thomas F. Lynch, 1873-4; Rev. Peter Farrell and 
Rev. WilHam Ward, 1874-7. 

On the 27th of August, 1876, his Eminence Cardinal 
McCloskey selected as pastor of St. Teresa's the Rev. 
Michael C. O'Farrell, a priest who, as assistant at St. 
Peter's and pastor of St. Mary's, Rondout, had evinced 
zeal and ability. 

The position of pastor of St. Teresa's required a priest 
of great energy and administrative skill. The church with 
the various institutions had cost nearly a quarter of a mil- 



CHURCH OF ST. TERESA. 679 

lion of dollars, and there was a debt still of one hun- 
dred and twenty thousand dollars to be reduced, the in- 
terest paid annually, and the yearly expenses of divine 
worship and the schools to meet. Notwithstanding the 
stringency of the times, felt with increased severity in 
a parish like St. Teresa's, where the majority depend 
on their own labor for their daily support, the Rev. 
Mr. O'Farrell has already succeeded in relieving his par- 
ish of fifty thousand dollars of its debt. He has also 
materially improved the condition of his academies and 
schools, adding to their convenience and power for good. 
He has been assisted by the Rev. William Ward, the 
Rev. E. J. Flynn, and by his present curates, the 
Rev. Peter Farrell, a zealous and untiring priest, great- 
ly esteemed by the people, and the Rev. James W. 
.Power, a highly eloquent and accomplished priest, re- 
markable for his meekness and piety, who had been 
attached to St. Stephen's, Holy Cross, and the Annun- 
ciation. 

The educational establislmients of the parish are in a 
thriving condition, continuing to diffuse the advantages of 
Christian education. St. Teresa's Academy for boys, under 
the Christian Brothers, has eighty-five pupils ; that for 
girls, under the Ursuline nuns, has one hundred and 
thirty pupils. The parochial school for boys, under the 
Clnistian Brothers, has seven hundred and thirty pupils ; 
that for girls, under the Ursuline nuns, has six hundred, 



680 



CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 



making a total of one thousand five liundred and forty- 
five in this single parish. 

The parish has admirable associations to keep alive 
the spirit of Christian piety. There are Rosary and Al- 
tar Societies, Children of Mary, a Confraternity of the 
Sacred Heart, a Christian Doctrine Society, and St. 
Teresa's Mutual Benevolent Burial Society, as well as a 
conference of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul. 



Roll of Honor 



CHURCH OF ST. TERESA. 



Ahern, William, Mrs. 
Anthony, John. 
Ardle, F. M. 
Arnold, William. 
Bagley, J. Kirker. 
Bannon, Ellen. 
Barnes, John. 
Barrett, James, Mrs. 
Barrett, Michael. 
Barrett, Thomas. 
Barrett, William. 
Barry, Jwlia, Mrs. 
Barry, Mary, ISIrs. 
Beechinour, Julia, Mrs. 
Bentley, Joseph. 
Bertrand, Charles. 
Blake, Thomas. 
Blanck, William A. 
Botas, Mary A. 
Bourke, J. C, Mrs. 
Bracklin, Peter. 
Bradley, Daniel. 
Brady, James. 
Brady, Thomas. 
Breen, George. 
Breen, Matthew P. 



Breen, Thomas. 
Brennan, Patrick. 
Broderick, Timothy. 
Brosnan, Mary E. 
Brown, Jane. 
Bruton, John. 
Buckley; Edward. 
Buckley, Mary, Mrs. 
Bulger, Anna. 
Bunyan, Mary. 
Burke, John. 
Burke, Richard! 
Byrnes, Catharine, Mrs. 
Byrnes, Edward G. 
Byrnes, James. 
Cahill, Patrick. 
Cahill, Philip. 
Cain, Thomas. 
Caldwell, John. 
Callahan, John. 
Callahan, William. 
Campbell, James. 
Campbell, John. 
Campion, Mary, Mrs. 
Cantwell, John, Mrs. 
Carey, John. 



Carey, S. Mrs. 
Carney, Tliomas. 
Carr, Timothy. 
Carroll, Bernard. 
Carroll, Fannie. 
Carter, James. 
Casey, Michael. 
Cheever, E. M., Mrs. 
Cherry, E., Mrs. 
Clark, Thomas. 
Clark, William B. 
Clarke, William G. 
Clarkson, Edward. 
Class, Dora T., Mrs. 
Coffey, William. 
Collins, Johanna. 
Collins, Philip. 
Connell, Thomas. 
Connell, M., Mrs. 
Connelly, James, Mrs. 
Connolly, Joanna J. 
Conroy, Peter C. 
Conroy, William. 
Considine, Dennis. 
Conway, Edward. 
Conway, John. 



i 



CHURCH OF ST. TERESA. 



681 



Conway, William A. 
Corcoran, Mary. 
Corriston, Edward. 
Cortelyou, Rose, Mrs. 
Coss, James. 
Coughlan, Jeremiah. 
Coughlin, Michael. 
Coughlin, Patrick. 
Cronin, Mary. 
Crosby, Robert. 
Curran, James. 
Curtin, David. 
Dalton, Mary. 
Darcy, Patrick. 
Denny, James. 
Devlin, Mamie. 
Donavan, Michael. 
Donnelly, Rose. 
Donohoe, Jeremiah. 
Donovan, Eugene. 
Donovan, James T. 
Donovan, Jeremiah. 
Donovan, Mary, Mrs. 
Donovan, Timothy. 
Doody, Jeremiah. 
Doolan, William. 
Dooley, Christopher. 
Dougherty, Patrick. 
Dougherty, Thomas. 
Driscoll, Ellen, Mrs. 
Driscoll, James. 
Duane, John. 
Duffy, James. 
Duffy, James. 
Dugan, James. 
Dugan, Michael. 
Dumphy, Julia, Mrs. 
Dunn, Ellen, Mrs. 
Dunn, Patrick. 
Dunn, William. 
Dunphy, J. E. 
Eagan, David. 
English, Ellen, Mrs. 
English, Patrick. 
Enright, Mrs. D. 
Enright, Thomas, Mrs. 
Fagan, Margaret. 
Farley, Michael. 
Farrell, John, Mrs. 
Farrell, Mary, Mrs. 
Fay, John. 
Fay, Patrick. 
Fenton, M. 
Finnegan, Thomas. 
Fitzgerald, John. 
Fitzgerald, John, Mrs. 
Fitzgerald, Michael. 
Fitzsimmons, B. 
Fitzsimons, C. 
Flanagan, Daniel F. 
Flanagan, Owen. 
Flannery, James. 
Flood, John. 
Flynn Patrick. 



Flynn, Timothy. 
Fogarty, Cornelius. 
Foley, William. 
Foley, William T. 
Galvin, William. 
Ganley, Patrick. 
Gannon, Barbara, Mrs. 
Gardiner, Michael. 
Gibbs, Patrick D. 
Gilmartin, Michael. 
Goulding, Lawrence G. 
Grady, James. 
Graff, Dominick. 
Greene, Francis J. M. 
Grenn, Lizzie, Mrs. 
Guilfoyle, Daniel. 
Ilagan, Catharine, Mrs. 
Haley, John. 
Hall, Mary, Mrs. 
Hall, Samuel J. 
Ilallisy, William. 
Hancock, Catharine. 
Hand, Bernard. 
Haran, Bernard. 
Hardgrove, John. 
Harrigan, Patrick. 
Hayes, Julia E. 
Hayes, Patrick. 
Healey, Jeremiah F. 
Herrick, Catharine, Mrs. 
Hickey, Arthur. 
Hickey, John. 
Higgins, Catharine. 
Higgins, Michael. 
Higgins, Patrick. 
Hoare, Johanna M., Mrs. 
Hoey, Joseph. 
Hoffman, Celestine, Mrs. 
Hogan, J., Mrs. 
Hogan, Kate, Mrs. 
Hogan, Thomas H. 
Hooley, Daniel. 
Howard, John. 
Howard, Norah. 
Hughes, Rosey, Miss. 
Hunt, Annie, Miss. 
Hunt, Owen W. 
Hussey, Catharine. 
Hyland, Martin. 
Irwine, John. 
Johnson, William A. 
Joyce, Henry. 
Joyce, Thomas. 
Kavanagh, Ann. 
Kealy, James. 
Keane, John. 
Keane, Patrick. 
Kearney Edward. 
Keefe, James J. 
Keefe, Michael. 
Keenan, Daniel A. 
Kelly, Annie. 
Kelly, Charles. 
Kelly, Edward J. , Mrs. 



Kelly, Jeremiah. 
Kelly, Mary E., Mrs. 
Kelly, Michael. 
Kelly, P. 
Kelly, William. 
Kemple, Michael. 
Kenny, M. 
Kenny, Matthew. 
Kenny, Patrick, Mrs. 
Kent, James, 
Keohane, P. 
Killeen, Daniel. 
Klein, John. 
Lamb, James. 
Lane, Maggie J. 
Lane, MichaelJ., Mrs. 
Lane, Patrick J. 
Larkin, Sarah, Mrs. 
Larkin, Michael. 
Lawler, Mary. 
Legg, Mary, Mrs. 
Leonard, Frederick. 
Leonard, James. 
Lindeman, M. A. Emilie. 
Logan, Mary, Mrs. 
Looney, Bridget, Mrs. 
Looney, Harry. 
Lorenzo, Nicholas. 
Loughlin, Bernard. 
Loughlin, Fanny, Miss. 
Lover, John. 
Lowery, James. 
Lowther, Thomas. 
Lund, Thomas. 
Lynch, John. 
Lynch, Patrick. 
McAdam, James. 
McAuliffe, Patrick. 
McCabe, Andrew. 
McCafferty, Thomas. 
McCarthy, Ellen, Mrs. 
McCarthy, J. Henry. 
McCarthy, Mary F. 
McCauley, Neil, Mrs. 
McCloskey, James. 
McColgan, John J. 
McColgan, Neil. 
McCormick, John. 
McCourt, Patrick. 
McDermott, Hugh. 
iVlcDonald, Daniel. 
McDonald, John. 
McDonnell, John. 
McEntee, James. 
McEntee, Mary A., Mrs. 
McGauIey, Mary. 
McGinty, James. 
McGowan, John. 
McGrorty, James J. 
McGuiness, Rosanna, Mrs. 
McGuirk, Ellen, Mrs. 
McKee, Peter. 
McKenna, Eliza, Mrs. 
McKenna, Matthew. 



G82 CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW. YORK. 


McKeon, Benjamia. 


Nugent, Mary C. 


Ryan, Peter, Mrs. 


McKeon, Joseph. 


O'Brien, Daniel. 


Ryan, Timothy. 


McLean, William. 


O'Brien, Ellen. 


Schlobohm. Henry. 


McLoughlin, Richard. 


O'Brien, James. 


Scully, F. J. 


McMahon, Daniel. 


O'Brien, Margaret Miss. 


Seymour, Fielding A. 


McManus, Ann. 


O'Brien, Patrick. 


Shaw, Joseph. 


McManus, Charles. 


O'Brien, Timothy. 


Shea, Maggie. 


McM alien, Mary. 


O'Connell, Cornelius. 


Shea, Mortimer. 


McPaul, William. 


O'Connell, Daniel. 


Sheehan, Daniel. 


McQuade, Peter. 


O'Connell, Denis, Mrs. 


Shells, James H. 


McSvveeney, J. 


O'Connell, James. 


Shells, Thomas. 


McSweeny, John.. 


O'Connell, Patrick, Mrs. 


Sheridan, Owen. 


McSwiggan, Samuel. 


O'Connell, Thomas, Mrs. 


Silles, James, Mrs. 


Maher, I'cter, Mrs. 


O'Connor, Annie. 


Silles, Susan, Miss. 


IMahoney, Catharine. 


O'Connor, William. 


Silva, I'"rank. 


Mahoney, James. 


O'Donnell, Hugh. 


Simcox, David. 


Mahoney, Michael. 


O'Donnell, Neil. 


Simpson, Mary, Mrs. 


Manning, Margaret, Mrs. 


O'Donnell, Thomas. 


Skelly, Charles H. 


Markcy, Hugh. 


O'Farrdl, Mary, Mrs. 


Slatlery, David. 


Marlow, James. 


O'Grady, Richard. 


Sleavin, James. 


Martin, Thomas. 


O'Halloran, Edward. 


Smith, Catharine, Mrs. 


Masterson, James. 


O'Keefe, Rose, Mrs. 


Smith, Essie. 


Matthews, James. 


O'Keeffe, Stephen D.~ 


Smith, Hugh. 


Melia, Thomas. 


O'Neil, Francis. 


Smith, Mai-y, Mrs. 


Moloney, J., Mrs. 


O'Neil, Florence. 


Smith, Thomas. 


Molony, Mark. 


Oliver, Mary A., Mrs. 


Stackpole, Annie, Mrs. 


Moore, Edward. 


Orpheus, D. W., Mrs. 


Stewart, James L., Mrs. 


Moore, Jane, Mrs. 


Park, Annie T. 


Sullivan, Daniel J. 


Moran, Charles. 


Payten, J. P. 


Sullivan, James. 


Moran, Thomas. 


Fennefather, Mary. 


Sullivan, M.artin. 


Mordaunt, Charles. 


Perry, Edward. 


Sweeney, Daniel. 


Morgan, Henry, Mrs. 


Pinson, John F. 


Sweeney, William. 


Moriarty, Philip. 


Plott, Francis. 


Swift, John W. 


■ Moriarty, Teresa S., Miss. 


Plunket, James. 


Taggart, John, Mrs. 


Moriarty, Thaddeus. 


Plunkett, 'Thomas. 


Thompson, George. 


Morrissey, John. 


Pohudorff, Frederick. 


Trainor, James. 


Moylan, Johanna. 


Powers, Mary, Miss. 


Wagner, "Louisa. 


Mulcahey, J., Mrs. 


Prange, John. 


Wallace, Lizzie. 


Mullane, John. 


Quinlan, Hugh. 


Walsh, David. 


Mullaney, Peter. 


Quinlan, Stephen. 


Walsh, John E. 


Mulry, James B. 


Quinn, John. 


Walsh, Margaret, Mrs. 


Mulry, Michael. 


Reilly, Catharine, Mrs. 


Walsh, Thomas. 


Mulry, Thomas P. 


Reilly, Catharine T., Mrs. 


Walsh, Patrick. 


Murphy, James. 


Reilly, Patrick. 


Walters, Charles F. 


Murphy, John. 


Reilly, Patrick J. 


Walters, R. M. 


Murphy, Maurice L. 


Revins, John. 


Ward, Annie, Miss. 


Murphy, William, Mrs. 


Reynolds, Edward F. 


Ward, William. 


Murray, Christopher. 


Reynolds, James. 


Welsh, David. 


Murray, Francis. 


Riordan, Jeremiah. 


Welsh, INIary, Mrs. 


Murray, John, Mrs. 


Riordan, Patrick. 


Wells, P. P. 


Murray, Patrick H. 


Roche, John B. 


Whelan, Catharine. 


Murray, Thomas J. 


Roche, William. 


White, Robert. 


Neary, John. 


Ryan, Cornelius. 


Wilkinson, Samuel, Mrs, 


Nelson, John. 


Ryan, John J. 


Woehrle, Amelia. 


Nevins, Michael. 


Ryan, Lanty. 


Wrenn, John. 


Nolan, William. 


Ryan, Margaret, Mrs. 


Young, James. 



I 



A 



CHURCH OF ST. TERESA. 683 



REV. MICHAEL C. O'FARRELL, 

PASTOR OF THE CHURCH OF ST. TERESA. 



THE Rev. Michael C. O'Farrell, pastor of the 
church dedicated to the glory of the Carmelite 
order, the great St. Teresa, was born in Lismore, County 
Waterford, Ireland, on the 12th of December, 1844. He 
was educated by the Cistercians, at the abbey of Mount 
Melleray, where he spent six years. Having completed his 
course of philosophy, he sought admission into St. Pat- 
rick's College, Carlow, in order to prepare for the holy 
order of priesthood, as he aspired to serve God at His 
holy altar. After spending three years in that theologi- 
cal seminary, he resolved to devote himself to the Ameri- 
can mission, and, coming to this country, entered the 
Provincial Seminary at Troy, in 1866. On the comple- 
tion of his divinity course, he was ordained for the 
Diocese of New York, on the 6th of June, 1868, by 
the Rt. Rev. F. P. McFarland, D.D., Bishop of Hartford. 
He was immediately appointed assistant pastor at 
St. Peter's Church, and for five years labored under the 
direction of the Rev. William Quinn, then pastor, who, 
on leaving, attested his zeal and worth. In 1872, desir- 
ing to visit his native land, the faithful of St. Peter's 



684 



CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 



presented their pious and zealous young priest with a 
substantial testimonial expressive of their esteem and love. 
He was transferred to St. Mary's, Rondout, May 1, 1873, 
where he soon won the affection of his flock, as he had 
done at St. Peter's. He zealously set to work to endow 
his parish with all necessary institutions. He erected a col- 
legiate institute for young men, and placed it under the 
care of the Franciscan Brothers from Brooklyn. The 
parish was very extensive, and he roused the faith 
and zeal of the people to erect churches at the most 
needed points. Thus, under this impulse, a new church 
was erected at Flatbush, near Rondout, and a graceful 
edifice rose at Port Ewen, in a remote part of his parish. 
While in the midst of his active and zealous career at 
Rondout, he was summoned to New York. There 
he entered a thriving parish, but one yet in its youth, 
with the cost still to be met and paid. Many a one 
would have shrunk from assuming, at a time when 
those most skilled in financial affairs were full of de- 
spondency, a burden which, in addition to the exercise 
of the holy ministry and constant parochial duty, seemed 
beyond the limits of human strength. What he has ac- 
complished, in relieving the church of nearly half its 
debt, tells clearly how mind and energy were strained 
to the utmost. His health began to show how he had 
overtasked his strength. In November, 1877, his health 
gave way, and the people of his parish, who had warmed 



CHURCH OF ST. TERESA. 6^5 

to the young and zealous pastor so gallantly fighting 
the battle, were filled with the deepest anxiety for his 
welfare, and during his enforced respite earnest prayers 
were offered for his speedy recovery. 

The church was filled with joy when his eloquent 
and impressive words again resounded in the walls of St. 
Teresa's, pointing out the way to life, and exhorting all 
to enter thereon, with the earnest pleading of eloquence 
and the most graphic pictures of the great truths of 
religion. 




OHURCH OF THE TRA^^SFIGURATION. 

MOTT STREET. 



CHURCH OF THE TRANSFIGURATION OF OUR LORD, 

MOTT STEEET. 



TRANSFIGURATION Church, in its origin, ranks 
among our oldest. As we have seen in the 
sketch of St. James', it sprang from Christ Chm-ch in Ann 
Street. 

The founder of this last named was the venerable 
Cuban priest, the Very Rev. Felix Francisco Jose Maria 
de la Concepcion Varela y Morales, one of the most re- 
markable men of our time, whose recent biography, by 
Jose Ignacio Rodriguez, gives at last a picture of his life 
and a monument to his fame. 

He was bom in Havana, Cuba, in 1788, and, hav- 
ing by his eloquence and his learning in a professor's chair 
won the resj^ect and esteem of his fellow-countrymen, 
was sent to the Spanish Cortes as one of the delegates 
to represent the Island of Cuba. When the Constitution 
was overtln^own, a decree of banishment prevented him 
from returning to his native city, where as priest and 
professor he had rendered such solid service to religion 
and learning. He arrived in New York from Gribraltar, 
on the 17th of December, 1823, in the Draper, Andrew 
Thorndike, Jr., captain. No longer in the freshness of 



688 CATHOLIC OHUEOHES OF NEW YORK. 

youth, a priest and exile, with no knowledge of the lan- 
guage of the country, his position was one of difficulty. 
After receiving faculties he was placed for a time at St. 
Peter's, in the last years of Bishop Connolly and during 
the administration of Very Rev. Mr. Power, so that when 
Bishop Du Bois entered the diocese, the Rev. Mr. Varela, 
by his progress in English, was already able to labor 
among the faithful at large. 

In 1827, he purchased Christ Church in Ann Street, 
and it became a Catholic church under the same name, 
and he acted as pastor till its insecure condition made 
it necessary to seek another spot. The property now 
occupied by St. James' Church was purchased by the 
corporation of Christ Church, but as many of the old 
congregation wished a church lower down town, the Rev. 
Mr. Varela yielded to their wishes. In 1835, the Reformed 
Scotch Presbyterian Church, in Chambers Street, opposite 
the Park, was offered for sale. There the very strictest 
doctrines of Calvin had been proclaimed by the Rev. Dr. 
McLeod, little conscious that his kirk was one day to 
become a Catholic church and his own son a Catholic 
priest. 

Mr. John Delmonico purchased the property at the 
sale, with the view to its use by Rev. Mr. Varela; and 
when the Right Reverend Bishop approved the project, that 
zealous priest furnished the money — fifty-five thousand dol- 
lars — and on the 11th of March, 1837, the premises were 



CHURCH OF THE TRANSFIGURATION. 689 

formally conveyed to Felix O'Neil, William McCloskey, 
Francis Everard, and Michael Bm-ke, as trustees of 
Transfiguration Churcli, which was duly incorporated un- 
der the law in the same month. The property was 
fifty feet in front by seventy-five feet seven and a half 
inches in depth; and the church was a brick structure, 
covering the whole width of the lot and extending back 
seventy feet. 

A house and lot in the rear, on Reade Street, were 
subsequently purchased for a pastoral residence. 

Transfiguration Church was dedicated on the 31st 
day of March, 1836, and soon had a large and docile 
congregation, who, under the guidance of so excellent a 
priest, showed the influence of their holy faith. He was 
constant in offering the holy sacrifice, in the confessional, 
in the visitation of the sick, and in instructions to his 
flock. After his appointment as Vicar Greneral, in 1837, 
he was frequently sent to distant parts of the State to set- 
tle difficulties, to examine charges brought, and represent 
the Right Reverend Bishop in most delicate questions. 

There were not yet reHgious orders, with eloquent 

priests, trained especially for the giving of missions and 

exciting anew the fire of piety in the hearts of those 

who attended the various churches, but from time to 

time the Rev. Mr. Varela would make a feast and its 

whole octave an occasion of a series of discourses, so 

that the week thus given to God created a new life in 
44 



GOO CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 

the cliui'ch. The octave of Corpus' Christi thus celebrated 
produced great fruit. 

Assiduous as lie was in parochial duty, he found 
time to labor much with his pen, not only for the good 
of his native island, wliich he loved too well ever to 
become a citizen in his adopted country, much as he 
appreciated it, but also for the Catholics in the United 
States, by having good books reprinted, by establishing 
Catholic newspapers and periodicals, and by his able 
defences of the true faith and doctrine. His charity was 
unbounded, and many anecdotes are told of his sacri- 
fices for the poor. The salary he received, the income 
sent hkn from Cuba, all went to the afflicted ; and 
when money was gone he gave his clothing, the silver 
off his table. His housekeeper could never persuade him 
to replenish his wardrobe ; but once, by telling him of 
a gentleman — a real gentleman — who was in such dis- 
tress that he had not a change of linen left, or clothes fit 
to appear in while discharging his duties, so worked on 
his feelings that he gave her money to relieve the gen- 
tleman, and discovered, to his own amazement, that he 
was the object of his own compassion, when he found his 
wardrobe restocked. 

The Rev. Dr. Varela was assisted at first by his old 
associate. Rev. Mr. Sohneller; then by Rev. Mr. Terhy- 
kowicz. Rev. John Freitas, Rev. B. A. Llaneza; and from 
1842 to 1846 by a holy Carthusian, Rev. Alexander 



CHURCH OF THE TRANSFIGURATION. 691 

Muppietti, who, coming here for his health, remained 
laboring at Transfiguration Church till his death, March 
21, 1846. He produced most extraordinar}^ fruit among 
the people, who revered him as a saint. 

After his death, the Rev. William McClellan became 
curate, and continued to discharge the duties during the 
life-time of Dr. Varela. The health of that model priest 
gave way beneath the severity of a climate so unlike 
that in which he was born and reared. He had to seek 
a more genial air. " It was to be deplored," wrote Rev. 
Mr. Vilanis, in 1850, " that so learned, pious, and charita- 
ble a man should find himself overcome by a long in- 
firmity, and compelled to pass the last years of his life 
in Florida, far from his parish of the Transfiguration, 
where, under the influence of a more benign climate, he 
hoped to prolong his days." 

This hope proved fallacious. He never returned to 
his flock, dying at St. Augustine on the 18th of Feb- 
ruary, 1853. Transfiguration Church possesses on her 
altar a crucifix, a memento of this excellent priest, and 
the lamp that lights the sanctuary was also his, as well 
as many objects preserved in the pastoral residence. 

The mismanagement of the financial affairs of the 
church by the trustees increased his afflictions. It will 
never be known how much of his own personal means 
or money obtained from personal friends went from time 
to time to save the church. It was finally actually trans- 



692 CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 

ferred to liim, when lie alone could save it; and in 
April, 1850, lie conveyed the title to the Right Rev. 
Bishop Hughes, the trustees in the following year, under 
an order of the Supreme Court, giving a release of all 
their rights. 

Soon after the Rev. William McClellan became pas- 
tor, a meeting was held by Bishop Hughes in Transfig- 
uration Church, on the 15th of March, 1853, of not only 
the clergy of the diocese, but also of eminent laymen, 
to express their sympathy and admiration for the ban- 
ished Archbishop of Bogota, and for the Rev. John 
Henr}^ Ne^vman, who had recently been convicted of 
libel by a bigoted English jury because he had exposed 
the real character of an ajiostate declaimer. 

The church on Chambers Street had always been too 
small. Moreover, it had become unfit for further use. 
The edifice was extremely ricketty. Improvements in the 
neighborhood required that great expense should be under- 
gone to shore it up. The site was too contracted for a 
new edifice, and the adjoining property too dear to pur- 
chase. It was therefore resolved to dispose of this site 
and purchase another where a church Avas much needed. 

With the money obtained from its sale in 1853 — 
seventy-five thousand dollars — the debts were paid off, 
and Zion Church, a large and substantial stone edifice 
erected by the Episcopalians, at the corner of Mott and 
Cross Streets, after the destruction by fire in 1815 of a 



CHURCH OF THE TEANSFIGURATION. 693 

previous cliurcli, was purcliased for thirty thousand dol- 
lars, and was conveyed to the Bishop April 30th, 1853. 

The ground was nearly a square, each dimension 
being about eighty-five feet ; the church itself being 
eighty feet in length by sixty-four feet in width ; the 
purchase of an irregular piece adjoining giving a pas- 
toral residence. 

This edifice was repaired by the Rev. Mr. McClellan, 
and adapted for the worship which the Church has main- 
tained for more than eighteen hundred years. It was 
solemnly dedicated and opened for divine service on the 
14th day of May, 1853, preserving the old title. 

Transfiguration Chm-ch soon numbered a large congre- 
gation. In 1856 the schools were erected, and the Sisters 
of Charity began a parochial school for girls ; and in 
the following year the Christian Brothers opened one for 
the boys of the parish. The two schools, in 1857, report- 
ed five hundred and fifty children; in 1878 the number is 
twelve hundred. 

One of the fruits of the school was seen on the 
26th of May, 1858, when four hundred' and thirty-five 
were confirmed by the Most Rev. Archbishop Hughes. 
The mission given by the Jesuits, in October, 1860, did 
for the adults what the schools had done for the young, 
and no fewer than five thousand approached the sacra- 
ments. 

Towards the close of the year 1860, the Rev. John 



694 



CATHOLIC CHUKCHES OF NEW YORK. 



McEvoy was appointed pastor, and in December held a 
fair to relieve the church and schools. He continued zeal- 
ously acting as pastor for about a year, when the Rev, 
Thomas Treanor, who had for years been the earnest 
curate, became pastor, in December, 1861. 

He made his schools perfectly free, and in October, 
1862, renewed his parish by a second mission, in which 
no less than sixteen priests were at times engaged in the 
confessionals. 

A few years after, this zealous priest enlarged and 
completely renewed the church, at an expense of fifty 
thousand dollars. He added a belfry tower, surmounted 
by a cupola. Within, the walls and ceiling were frescoed, 
by Brandenberg — the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin 
being the centre of the ceiling, with figures of the four 
evangelists. Beautiful stained-glass windows, with the em- 
blems of the Passion, aided to show the beauty of the 
renovated church. 

An exquisite altar of Italian marble, finely sculptured, 
is surmounted by a figure of Our Lord after his de- 
scent from the cross. The graceful tabernacle is sur- 
mounted by a Gothic expository. Everything is elegant 
without the slightest point for criticism. 

Under the organ is portrayed the Adoration of the 
Shepherds. The Most Eeverend Archbishop assisted at the 
reopening of the church, in February, 1867, and compli- 
mented the congregation and their pastor on their improve- 



CHURCH OF THE TRANSriGURATION. 695 

ments ; and when all was completed he consecrated che 
new altar, on Sunday, the 10th of May, 1868; the Rev. 
Francis McNeirny celebrating a Solemn High Mass, with 
the Rev. F. H. Farrelly as deacon. Tlie Most Reverend 
Archbishop preached on the occasion, taking as his text 
the words of the Royal Psalmist : " I have loved the 
beauty of thy house and the dwelling place of thy glory." 

The Rev. Mr. Treanor did not long survive the ac- 
complishment of his great work. He died of pneumonia 
on the 28th of November, 1870, aged forty-eight. He 
was a native of Fintona, in the County Tyrone, and had 
been ordained by Archbishop Hughes in 1857. His pre- 
decessor, the Rev. William McClellan, died at St. Au- 
gustine's Church, Sing Sing, May 9, 1871. 

During his parochial charge, the Rev. Mr. Treanor 
was assisted by the Rev. Messrs. Michael McKenna, James 
Hasson, Thomas Maguire, James Quinn, Patrick W. Tandy, 
W. C. Poole, James Keenan, and Eugene McKenna. 

During the pastorship of the Rev. James Hasson, his 
Grace the Archbishop blessed, according to the rite in 
the Roman Pontifical, a fine bell weighing fifteen hun- 
dred pounds, made for the church by Meneely of Troy. 
This interesting ceremony took place on Sunday, the 12th 
of February, 1871, and at the High Mass an eloquent 
sermon was delivered by the Rev. Mr. O'Farrell of St. 
Peter's. 

On the 9th of June, 1871, the Rev. James H. Mc- 



696 CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 

Gean was appointed pastor, and has since directed the 
parish. His district contains a CathoHc population of 
about thirteen thousand, but is not now increasing, many 
Chinese, with all their pagan ideas, having settled in the 
parish, with some from Catholic countries of Europe, in- 
deed, but who seem to lose all faith and religion here, 
and seldom cross the threshold of the church. 

The Rosary Society, one of the oldest connected with 
the church, meets every evening, and still remembers in 
its prayers the Rev. Dr. Varela and Rev. Mr. Muppietti. 
The Archconfratemity of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, 
for the conversion of sinners, was established in this church 
in the time of Rev. Mr. McClellan. There is also the 
Confraternity of the Sacred Heart, the Society of St. Vin- 
cent de Paul, and a temperance society. 





^^^^h-^t^^ 




'^SiZ^-zy 



CHURCH OF THE TRANSFIGURATION, 697 



EEY. JAMES H. McGEAN, 

PASTOR OF THE CHURCH OF THE TRANSFIGUEATION. 



THE pastor of the church founded by the vener- 
ated Dr. Varela is a native of New York City, 
bom and brought up amid the scenes which have be- 
come the field of his priestly labors. 

He was born on the 29th of January, 1841, and 
after preliminary studies entered the College of St. Fran- 
cis Xavier, where, trained in literary culture and a solid 
knowledge of his faith, he was graduated honorably in 
the year 1861. 

Feeling himself called to the priestly state, he turn- 
ed his back on the world and its prospects, and, being 
accepted by the Archbishop as a candidate, was sent to 
Montreal to pursue his theological course in the great 
Seminary of that city, where the Sulpitian Community, 
founded by the saintly Mr. Olier, have so long and so 
successfully imbued young levites with ecclesiastical learn- 
ing and the true sacerdotal spirit. 

At the conclusion of his course he was ordained 
priest, in St. Patrick's Cathedral, New York, by the Rt 
Rev. James Roosevelt Bayley, D.D., Bishop of Newai-k, 
on the 24th day of September, 1864. 



698 CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 

He was at once appointed one of the assistants at 
the Cathedral, and for six years discharged the laborious 
duties of that position under the eye of his Archbishop, 
ever ready at the call of duty, prompt, pious, and ex- 
emplary. 

On the 9th of June, 1871, the parish connected 
with the Church of the Transfiguration was committed 
to his care, and for more than seven years he has min- 
istered to his flock, by whom he is much loved and 
respected. He is not one anxious for change, but one 
who aims to fulfill to the utmost the duty where he is 
placed, as is evident from the fact that in a priestly 
career of fourteen years he has held only two positions. 



CHURCH OF THE TRANSFIGURATION. 



699 



R 



OLL OF 



H 



ONOR. 



Abbott, Mary, Mrs. 
Aheni, Elizabeth T. , Mrs. 
Bannon, Michael. 
Barins, Bridget. 
Barrett, John, Mrs. 
Barrett, Michael. 
Barry, Michael. 
Beekman, William. 
Birmingham, Michael. 
Boland, William. 
Bonner, John. 
Boyce, James. 
Boyle, Charles. 
Brady, Thomas, INIrs. 
Brayton, Charles. 
Brennan, Mary. 
Burke, Bernard. 
Burke, Edward. 
Burns, Denis. 
Byrne, Eliza. 
Caddie, Michael. 
Caffrey, William. 
Callaghan, Patrick. 
Callan, Bernard. 
Callion, Jeremiah. 
Calvey, Daniel. 
Campbell, Daniel. 
Carens, Charles. 
Carey, Edward. 
Clancy, James. 
Clancy, Mary. 
Clarey, Charles. 
Clarke, Katie. 
Clune, Patrick. 
Coffey, Miles. 
Colbert, Patrick. 
Comerford, Kate. 
Conlan, David. 
Conlan, James. 
Connelly, Julia. 
Connelly, Patrick. 
Connors, Owen. 
Conroy, Morris. 
Conway, Patrick. 
Cook, Lawrence. 



Corcoran, John, Mrs. 
Corrigan, Hugh. 
Costello, P. J. 
Costello, William. 
Creeden, Anastasia. 
Cullen, Mary. 
Cummings, Eliza. 
Cunningham, Patrick. 
Curry, Ann, Mrs. 
Cusack, Annie. 
Dahlbender, Martin. 
Daly, James. 
Daly, Michael. 
Deasy, Michael. 
Dee, John M. 
Derrick, ISIartin. 
Devine, Patrick. 
Dooguc, Hugh. 
Doran, Ellen. 
Dore, James W. 
Doudican, Michael. 
Dowling, John. 
Downey, Mary. 
Drumgoole, INIichael. 
Dunleavey, Patrick. 
Dunn, Edward, Mrs. 
Dunn, Ellen, Mrs. 
Farley, Mary. 
Field, Richard. 
Finegan, Mary. 
Finegan, Michael. * 
Finegan, Patrick. 
Finn, William. 
Finnegan, Matthew. 
Finnerty, Thomas. 
Fitzgerald, John. 
Fitzpatrick, Daniel. 
Flynn, Catharine. 
Flynn, Matthew F. 
Flynn, Thomas. 
Foley, Hugh. 
Foley, W'innie. 
Ford, Timothy. 
Fox, Cornelius. 
Fox, William. 



Freel, John. 
Freemont, Kate. 
Gallagher, Bridget. 
Gallagher, Frances J., Miss, 
Gallagher, John. 
Gann, Bridget. 
Gaughan, Anthony. 
Geraghty, John. 
Gill, Thomas J. 
Gill, P. li. 
Gillan, Peter. 
Gillen, John. 
Gilligan, Matthew J. 
Gillon, James. 
Gillon, Martin. 
Gilmartin, IMichael. 
Gilmartin, Patrick. 
Gikoy, Peter. 
Gilroy, William. 
Glasco, John. 
Golden, Bernard. 
Golden, Philip. 
Gorden, Frank J. 
Gorman, William. 
Goulding, Catharine, Mrs. 
Grady, Thomas. 
Gregg, Mary. 
Green, Maria. 
Griffin, James. 
Grant, James. 
Gunther, Theodore. 
Haggerty, Bridget. 
Haggerty, Jeremiah. 
Hamilton, Robert. 
Hanlon, James. 
Hanly, Thomas. 
Harley, Michael. 
Harrickey, Thomas. 
Harrington, Daniel. 
Hart, Patrick, Mrs. 
Hartigan, Jeremiah. 
Hawkins, James. 
Hayden, Winnie. 
Hays, Mary. 
Hayes, Michael. 



700 CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 




Ilealey, James. 


McHugh, Mary, Mrs. 


Plet, Louis A. 




Ilealy, Bryan. 


McKenna, Frank. 


Powers, Delia J. 




Heart, Anne. 


McLaughlin, Bernard. 


Powers Mary. 




liennessy, James. 


McLaughlin, Patrick. 


Quinn, Bartliolcnicw. 




Herney, John. 


McMahon, Thomas. 


Quinn, Kate. 




Ilogan, John. 


Maher, Edward. 


Quinn, Michael. 




Hogan, Robert. 


Mahoney, John. 


Reilly, Mary F. 




Hogan, Thomas, Mrs. 


Mannion, Patrick. 


Reynolds, Michael. 




Hughes, Hcn;y. 


Marrens, Andrew. 


Regan, Annie. 




Jackson, Thomas. 


Martin, Michael. 


Richardson, George. 




Jarvis, Josephine. 


Meehan, Patrick. 


Rogers, Frank. 




Jones, George. 


Meehan, Peter. 


Rooney, Ellen. 




Kane, James F. 


Mooney, Matthew. 


Rooney, Owen. 




Keenan, John. 


Moran, William. 


Rooney, Wilham J. 




Kehher, Cornelius. 


Moriarty, Mary. 


Rouse, Rosanna. 




Kehher, Peter. 


iNTullaney, James. 


Ryan, Daniel. 




Kelly, Cornelius. 


Mullen, Patrick. 


Ryan, John. 




Kennedy, Thomas. 


Mulry, Mary. 


Scully, Patrick F. 




Keyes, Maria E. 


Murphy, David. 


Sessina, Antonio. 




Kiernan, Kate. 


Murphy, John. 


Shades, Andrew. 




Kilgorc, James. 


Murphy, John J. 


Shanahan, Daniel. 




Kirk, John. 


Murphy, Kate. 


Shanahan, James. 


. 


Lalor, Andrew. 


Murphy, Mary. 


Shea, Cornelius. 




Lawlor, M., Mrs. 


Murray, Hugh. 


Shea, Dennis. 




Leary, Cornelius. 


Murray, John. 


Shea, Edward M. 




Lenehan, James. 


Murray, Patrick. 


Shea, Ellen. 




Logan, Ellen. 


Murray, Thomas. 


Shea, James. 




Lonergan, Edward. 


Nannery, Lizzie. 


Shea, James, Mrs. 




Lopez, Matilda D. 


Naughton. James. 


Shea, John. 




Lupton, Bridget, Mrs. 


Nealis, Thomas J. 


Shea, Morris. 




Lynch, Bernard. 


Nicholson, J. 


Shea, Patrick. 




Lynch, John. 


Norton, Sarah. 


Sheehan, James J. 




Lynch, Michael. 


Nugent, Arthur. 


Sheehan, Jeremiah, I\Irs. 




Lynd, James. 


Nugent, Bernard. 


Sheehan, John. 




Lyons, Catharine, Mrs. 


O'Brien, Johanna. 


Sheehan, Thomas P. 




Lyons, Thomas. 


O'Brien, Kate E. 


Sinnott, John. 




McArdlc, Bernard. 


O'Connor, Daniel. 


Smith, John. 




McAuliffe, Jane. 


O'Connor, Edward. 


Stack, Bridget, Mrs. 




McCann, James. 


O'Connor, John, ]\Irs. 


Stewart, James E., Mrs. 




McCarrick, John. 


O'Connor, Michael. 


Sullivan, Cornelius. 




McCarthy, Annie, Mrs. 


O'Connor, Patrick. 


Sullivan, Daniel. 




McCarthy', Bridget. 


O'Connor, Thomas. 


Sullivan, Jeremiah. 




McCarthy, Daniel. 


O'Donnell, Patrick. 


Sullivan, John. 




McCarthy, Sylvester. 


O'Donnell, Patrick, Mrs. 


Sullivan, Katie V. 




McCloskey, George W. 


O'Hara, Patrick. 


Sidlivan, Martin. 




McConan, James. 


O'Leary, Llannah. 


Sullivan, Patrick. 




McCormack, John. 


O'Leary, John. 


Sullivan, Timothy. 




McCoughran, James. 


O'Leary, Timothy. 


Sweeney, Thomas. 




McCrann, Katie, Mrs. 


O'Neil, Denis. 


Taggard, John J. 




McCullough, Daniel. 


O'Neil, Francis, Mrs. 


Tierney, John. 




McDermott, James. 


O'Neil, Margaret. 


Tucker, Maggie. 




McDermott, Peter J. 


O'Neill, Ambrose. 


Twibles, Joseph. 




McDevitt, Patrick. 


O'Reilly, Charles. 


Tynan, William. 




McGann, Bernard. 


O'Reilly, James. 


Wade, Patrick. 




INIcGann, Bridget. 


O'Shaughnessy, Edward. 


Walker, Thomas. 




McGovern, Margaret. 


O'Sullivan, John. 


Walsh, Joseph. 




]\IcGowan, Annie. 


O'Sullivan, "Maurice. 


Ward, John H. 




McGrath, Elizabeth, Mrs. 


O'Sullivan, T. 


Waters, Charles F. 




McGrath, Maggie. 


Parks, Matthew. 


Waters, John. 




McGrath, Thomas. 


Patten, Charles E. 


Weldon, James. 




McGuire, 1\L 


Patton, William G. 


Wlrelan, John F. 




McGuire, Thomas. 


Peters, Mary A., Mrs. 
Phelan, John. 


Whitehurst, Edward. 






CHURCH OF SAINT VINCENT DE PAUL. 

WEST TWENTY-THIRD STEEET. 



CHURCH OF SAINT VINCENT DE PAUL 

(FRENCH). 

WEST TWENTY-THIED STREET. 



OUR Holy Church was first represented on this 
island by priests from France. In later times 
a considerable body of French Catholics from Acadia 
were landed here; then, when under happier auspices 
Catholicity was free, the venerable Father Farmer came 
from Pennsylvania to break the Bread of Life to the 
French and Canadian Catholics. Later still, when St. 
Peter's congregation was formed, the good but eccentric 
priest, the Rev. Mr. Lavaliniere, in 1785, received from 
Dr. Carroll faculties to minister to the French in and 
around New York City. Though he subsequently had 
charge also of the English-speaking Catholics, he is the 
pioneer of the separate work among the French. 

This did not lead, however, to the organizing of a 
church and congregation, and for many years the French 
in New York City depended on the occasional presence 
of a priest of their nationality — the Abbe Sibomxl, Fath- 
ers Kohlmann, Maleve, and Malou, Bishop Du'Bois him- 
self, who was ever ready and devoted. But many kept 
aloof from the existing Catholic churches, and were led, 
by a desire of hearing their own language, to the French 



CHURCH OF ST. VINCENT DE PAUL. 703 

churcli which had long- been maintained by the Protest- 
ant Episcopal denomination. 

The Count de Forbin-Janson, Bishop of Nancy, vis- 
ited America in 1840, and gave missions in various parts 
of Canada, which produced immense fruit. On the last 
da)^ of February, 1841, he gave a lectm-e to his coun- 
trymen in St. Peter's Church. The edifice was crowded 
with French and Spaniards. The bishop gave an account 
of his missions in Canada, and announced that he would 
open a retreat in St. Peter's for the French on the fol- 
lowing Wednesday. 

He was soon convinced of the deep and urgent 
want of a French Catholic church in New York City. 
In a sermon on Easter Sunday he appealed to his coun- 
trymen in the most earnest tones : "In this great city, 
where the Irish and Grerman Catholics have recoiled from 
no sacrifice to have their own churches and priests, how 
is it that the French, so famous for the faith of their 
fathers, alone remain indifferent? They are wanting both 
to the highest interests of their salvation and to those 
of their nationality. How, in fact, can this nationality be 
long preserved in a foreign land without the powerful 
bond of religion? Such a church is, ardently desired by 
Bishop Hughes, the pious and able administrator of the 
diocese, for which he expects great benefits from it." 

The project was at once taken up with enthusiasm. 
Bishop Forbin-Janson opened the subscription by putting 



704 CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 

his own name down for five hundred dollars, promising 
to increase the sum till it equaled the largest contribu- 
tion. A committee was appointed to solicit subscriptions, 
and an association formed of subscribers who were to 
give a dollar monthly. 

The zealous Bishop continued to gather and instruct 
the French Catholics, and before he left the city had 
the consolation of seeing that he had not labored in vain. 
The existence of a French church was assured. Before 
the close of May the committee purchased, for thirty 
thousand seven hundred and fifty dollars, a lot on Canal 
Street, marked by the blackened ruins of the Protestant 
Episcopal Church of the Annunciation. The corner-stone 
of the new church was laid on the 11th of October, 
1841, by Mr. de la Foret, then Consul General of France. 

The Bishop of Nancy lent six thousand dollars to 
aid in building the church, aad the Association for the 
Propagation of the Faith made on several occasions do- 
nations for the same purpose. Several of the French 
residents in New York, or gentlemen of French origin, 
whose faith was still fresh and active, exerted themselves 
warmly in carrying on the work. The church cost a 
little over thirty-eight thousand dollars to erect, and was 
finally ready for dedication on the 21st of August, 1842. 

On that day the impressive ceremonies of the dedica- 
tion of a church were performed by the Right Rev. 
Bishop Hughes, assisted by the Rev. Dr. Manahan, Rev. 



CHURCH OF ST. VINCENT DE PAUL. 705 

Messrs. Labbe, Deydier, and others. When the elegant 
building had thus, by the prayers of the Holy Church, 
been set apart solemnly for the worship of God, a Sol- 
emn High Mass was offered up, and an eloquent dedication 
sermon was preached by the Rev. Dr. Raymond, Presi- 
dent of St. Mary's College, Baltimore. At the benediction, 
which he gave, the Right .Reverend Bishop also address- 
ed the congregation. He referred to the dedication of 
that church as an epoch in the history of Catholicity in 
the United States, and as an event pregnant with results 
the most salutary to the vast body of French residents 
in and around the city. Now, for the first time, they 
had a church which they might look upon as their own, 
and to which they might bring those who had too long 
absented themselves from the ' consolations of religion — 
where they might hear the gospel of the Most High and 
the precepts of the true faith inculcated in the accents 
of their own tongue. He looked upon that edifice within 
which they were that day assembled, as a centre round 
which the scattered children of France would hasten to 
congregate. 

The Rev. Mr. Deydier, a worthy priest of the Diocese 
of Vincennes, who happened to be in New York at that 
time seeking aid for his own mission in the West, as 
installed provisionally, and from that day mass was said 
regularly in the church. 

The Bishop of Nancy had been connected in the 
45 



706 CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 

Apostolate with the Venerable Father Rauzan, and ap- 
pealed to him to send one of his Fathers to the church 
in New York. 

The Rev. Father Annet Lafont was selected, and was 
thus the first regular pastor of the church. He arrived 
in 1852, and continued to guide the congregation of 
French Catholics from that time till his death, in 1875. 
He belonged to the Society of the Fathers of Mercy, 
founded in France by Father Rauzan, and was an ac- 
tive and zealous priest. As soon as he had become 
acquainted with his field of labor and organized his con- 
gregation, he set to work to meet all its wants. Appealing 
to the society of which he was a member, he received 
from them a generous aid in money for the church in 
New York. Fully impressed w^ith the necessity of Christian 
education, he established parochial schools, and having in 
1848 introduced the Brothers of the Christian Schools, he 
committed the boys of his parish to their care. He was 
persuaded that an institute of this kind, blessed by Divine 
Providence wherever it had been introduced, would not 
be less blessed of God nor less generously sustained by 
Catholics in New York than it had been elsewhere. 

Bishop Du Bois and Bishop Hughes had both made 
ineffectual efforts to secure such a community, and the 
great work was at last accomplished by Father Lafont. 

They soon had one hundred and seventy-four pupils, 
and then opened their first select and boarding school in 



J 

I 



CHURCH OF ST. VINCENT DE PAUL. 797 

Canal Sti-eet. And all their institutions in the city — 
Manhattan College, Lasalle Institute, and the parocliial 
schools — are the outgrowth of this great step of Father 
Lafont. 

A free school for girls was also organized, and num- 
bered the first year eighty-eight pupils. It was conducted 
b)' pious ladies for some years, until he succeeded in 
introducing the Sisters Marianites of the Holy Cross, 
whose mother house is at Le Mans, in France. 

"In the year of grace 1841," says Father Lafont, 
in an address to his congregation, " the City of New 
York was endowed with a new Catholic oii^irch, placed 
under the invocation of St. Vincent de Paul, the hero 
of Christian charity in our modern times : the French 
congregation of St. Vincent de Paul was founded. This 
work of yom' faith, this work of zeal for the glory of 
God and the salvation of souls, this work of public 
charity, was ere long menaced in its external existence, 
by the forced removal of its faithful from the spot occu- 
pied by the Church of St. Vincent de Paul." 

This resulted from the gradual extending of the busi- 
ness part of the city around and far beyond the church. 
The great mass of the French Catholics had residences 
far from the chm'cli, and it became necessary to seek a 
more convenient site. 

An eligible position was found in Twenty-third 
Street, between Sixth and Seventh Avenues, and was 



708 



CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 



purchased in the year 1857. The plan of the new church 
was made by the arcliitect, H. Engelbert, and the founda- 
tion laid. On Sunday, June 14tli, . 1857, the Most Rev. 
Archbishop Hughes, with the Very Rev. William Starrs, 
V.G., the Rev. Messrs. McClellan, Donnelly, Curran, Quinn, 
McNeirny, and the pastor of the new chm-ch, moved pro- 
cessionally to the spot where the corner-stone was to be 
laid, and blessed it according to the Roman Pontifical. 
The procession then made the circuit of the new church, 
the Archbishop blessing and sprinkling the walls, with 
appropriate prayers. On returning to the platform, his 
Grace addressed the vast multitude, as follows : — 

" You have witnessed, beloved brethren, the ceremony 
of laying the corner-stone of a temple to be erected to 
the honor of Almighty God. The ceremonies attending 
this, as prescribed by the Church, have been complied 
with. The benediction of the corner-stone and the 
sprinkling of the foundation walls all imply the dedica- 
tion of this spot to the great end for Avhich it is set 
apart. God does not require churches of stone or brick 
at om' hands, but we need them, and from the begin- 
ning to the end of a temple erected according to Catho- 
lic rites, every thing is blessed and consecrated to his 
glory and the salvation of men. This is no longer the 
same profane ground that it was. Ground and matter 
are not susceptible of sanctity by themselves, but only 
by their relations to man, and men by their relations 



CHURCH OF ST. VINCENT DE PAUL. 709 

to God. A temple is to be erected here in which the 
sacraments of redemption shall be administered; in which 
the word of eternal life shall be preached and pro- 
claimed; in which children shall be taught the first les- 
sons of their duty to God and their fellow creatures ; 
in which the holy rites of matrimony shall be pro- 
claimed, laying the foundation of everything that is pure 
and noble — first in humanity, next in society. This 
temple is to be erected to the honor of Almighty God. 
All churches of worship or of ceremony must have refer- 
ence to Him. Although this is to be dedicated under 
the invocation of a saint of earth, yet it is God whose 
temple it is. It will be under the invocation of St. 
Vincent de Paul — and who was St. Vincent de Paul? 
When he lived on earth he was unnoticed in the world, 
except . by his humility and his poverty of spirit, his zeal 
in the salvation of souls, and his devotion towards 
everything that concerned the honor and glory of his 
God. It was he who in the ingeniousness of his char- 
ity invented the idea of Sisters of Charity, so called. 
Though he has passed from this world nearly two hun- 
dred years, still no conqueror that ever desolated prov- 
inces, no great warrior leaving behind the bloody prints 
of his victories over the nations, has been of so much 
benefit to mankind as the humble St. Vincent of Paul. 
He is one of those distinguished servants of God of the 
land whose sons have undertaken to erect this temple. I 



710 CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 

need not tell you that the Catholic Church is the same 
all over the world — no national doctrines belons' to it. It 
is important, and a very desirable thing, that while all 
are blended in one community of belief by the tenn Cath- 
olic, still every nation and tong-ue prefers to hear the 
word of God in that language which has first sounded in 
the ears of childhood and infancy. Hence it is that we 
have French chmxhes — not that they are French other 
than in the sense I have just mentioned — so also Ave 
have German churches ; and would to God we could 
have churches devoted to every language of the nations 
where Catholicity could be made known. This under- 
taking is worthy of the nation that has produced, in 
every department^ such distinguished men and warriors — 
great in evil as well as in good — for there is no 
mediocrity. The same nation has produced great bad men, 
as also great best men, whether as warriors, as addicted to 
jurisprudence, as scientific men, or as men distinguislied 
by eminent ecclesiastical learning and eminent eloquence, 
by which they have adorned the Church of God, and many 
of whom are ready to shed their blood in the farthest East, 
or in the lands of Paganism, in the work of God. It is 
proper, therefore, that I should expect you to aid by the 
contribution of your means, whatever you can toAvard the 
erection of this church of God; and you will find ample 
reward in encouraging the pastor and people to carry on 
successfully the work Avliich has been thus begun." 



CHURCH OF ST. VINCENT DE PAUL. 71I 

The property on Canal Street was sold, and the 
church, after being temporarily used by Rev. Mr. Sangui- 
netti for an Italian congregation, was finally torn do^vn, 
and buildings for business purposes erected on the site. 

With the proceeds the new church was erected. It 
is of the Roman style of architecture, of brown stone, 
with two towers, and a center pediment. At the summit 
of this in front is a stone statue of St. Vincent de 
Paul. The sides and rear walls are of brick, and the 
roof of slate. There are to be two spires of cast-iron 
rising to a height of one hundred and forty feet. With- 
in, the church is finished in the Corinthian order, with 
two aisles tliirty-three feet high, and a nave with semi- 
circular A^ault fifty feet high. Each of the aisles and the 
navo leads up to an altar. The church is sixty-four 
feet wide, one hundred and thirty feet long, and seventy 
feet liigh. It cost about eightj^-five thousand dollars, and 
was erected by Joseph M. O'Connor, imder the direction 
of Mr. Engelbert, the building committee being Claude 
Ligneaux, Victor Durand, Laville Dubercan, L. N. d'Ho- 
mergne, Mr. de Comeau, L. Boquet, and John Milhau. 

The chui'ch was dedicated on Sunday, the 9th day 
of May, 1868, by his Grrace the Most Re\^erend Arch- 
bishop McCloskey, with all the ceremonial prescribed in 
the Roman Pontifical, a numerous attendance of the 
clergy giving dignity and beauty to the procession as it 
moved through the elegant and truly Christian church. 



712 



CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 



During- the Solemn High Mass which was offered, the 
Most Reverend Archbishop made a graceful and happy 
address, congratulating the French Catholics on their new 
chm'cli, and expressing the hope that the Italian and 
Spanish population would follow their example by erect- 
ing churches in this city. 

With his new church erected, and his congregation 
reorganized, Father Lafont set to work to rear up in his 
vicinity parochial schools and academies, which were 
speedily in operation. 

Father Lafont was assisted from time to time by sev- 
eral priests, among whom may be mentioned the Rev. An- 
Ihony Cauvin, 1848-53; Rev. N. Madeore, 1850-7; Rev. A. 
Fourmount, 1858 ; Rev. L. Gambosville, 1858-64 ; Rev. E. 
Aubril, S.P.M., 1867-78 ; Rev. Michael Ronay, S.P.M., 1868. 

The ReA^ Father Ronay believed that a college of a 
higher literary and social grade than any yet possessed 
by Catholics was needed, and established the College of 
St. Louis, for which an elegant edifice was erected in 
West Forty-second Street, in 1873, at a cost of one hun- 
dred thousand dollars. This continued in existence for 
some years, attended by the sons of some of the wealth- 
iest families in the city, until the death of Father Ronay. 

Besides the schools and educational establishments. 
Father Lafont, by the aid of a charitable gentleman, 
created also a French Orphan Asylum, which he placed 
under the Sisters Marianites of the Holy Cross. 



CHURCH OF ST. VINCENT DE PAUL. 713 

His health finally gave way under his long mission- 
ary labors and the privations to which he subjected him- 
self during the early struggles of his church, when he 
with his associate priests, generally two in number, drew 
for salaries in fifteen years only $4,192.89, not one-sixth 
of what a single popular Protestant clergyman sometimes 
receives in a single year. He went to Europe, hoping * 
to regain his strength, but returning to his church, which 
had been recently restored and renewed by the brother 
of the zealous parishioner already mentioned, died on the 
7th of January, 1874. At his requiem the Rev. Father 
Duranquet preached a funeral discourse, rehearsing the 
noble life of the dead priest before them, and his Grrace 
the Archbishop, paying his tribute of respect, assured the 
congregation '' that they did not mourn alone ; that the 
whole clergy of New York and their chief pastor mourned 
with them for the loss of one whom he himself had ever 
regarded as a faithful and wise counsellor, as a model 
for his priests, as one who exhibited in his own person 
the dignity of the true priest of God." 

The Rev. Edmond Aubril, of the same society, be- 
came pastor of the Church of St. Vincent de Paul on 
the death of Father Lafont, and has since directed it. 
He is assisted by the Rev. C. Tournier, S.P.M. ; Rev. F. 
A. Aigueperse, S.P.M. ; Rev. Stephen Septier, S.P.M. ; and 
Rev. Ch. Giese. 

In 1876, the old house in whicb the clergy of St. 



714 



CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 



Vincent's liad lived most uncomfortably for many years 
was demolished and replaced by a handsome pastoral 
residence. 

In the same year the basement of the church ceased 
to be a school-room, and a fine building was secured 
for parochial schools. 

The institutions in the parish and connected with the 
church are the Convent of the Sisters Marianites of the 
Holy Cross, with an Orphan Asylum containing one hun- 
dred and fifty inmates, and Free School, No. 215 West 
Thirtj^-ninth Street; St. Vincent de Paul's Select French 
and English Parochial Schools — that for young ladies di- 
rected by the same sisters ; that for young men under the 
Christian Brothers. 

The religious societies include the Archconfraternity 
of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, introduced into this 
country by Father Lafont; the Society for the Propa- 
gation of the Faith, Rosary and Purgatorian Societies, 
the Children of Mary, Association of Clu'istian Mothers, 
and an Altar Society. In 1877, by the zeal of the ladies 
forming this last society, a neat marble altar was erected 
ia tlie sanctuary of the church. For the relief of distress 
there are Conferences of the Society of St. Vincent de 
Paul, Ladies' Association for the Parish Orphanage, St. 
Ann's Mutual Benevolent Association for Colored Women, 
and St. Francis Xavier's Benevolent Association for Colored 
Men. 



CHURCH OF ST. VINCEI^T DE PAUL. 715 



REV. EDMOND AUBRIL, S.P.M., 

PASTOR OF THE CHURCH OF ST. VINCENT DE PAUL. 



THE Rev. Eclmond Aubril, like his predecessor, Fa- 
ther Amiet Lafont, is a priest of the Society 
of Mercy. He is a native of St. Gilles, Diocese of Cou- 
tance, Normandy. 

He was ordained at the Cathedral of Coutance in May, 
1839, and came to this country in 1843, with the Rev. 
Benedict Madeore, to take charge of the church in St. 
Aug-ustine, Florida. After acting as assistant to Rev. Father 
Madeore, he became pastor in November, 1848, and by 
his zeal, piety, and extreme charity, completely won the 
hearts of his parishioners, among whom there had for- 
merly' been many malcontents. 

When Florida, in 1857, received a Bishop as Vicar 
Apostolic, the Rev. Mr. Aubril became Vicar Greneral, 
and continued to direct the parish over Avhich he had 
so long presided. During all the troubled period of the 
war he continued his ministry among his old flock and 
his missions, as well as among the soldiers who from 
time to time were stationed in those parts. He erected 
a churcli at Tampa Bay to commemorate the martyrdom 
of the holy Dominican Father Cancer. 



716 



CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 



In 1867, he came to New York to assist the Rev. 
Father Lafont, and was acting pastor during his absence 
in Europe. 

On the death of the founder of tlie church, the 
Most Reverend Archbishop appointed the Rev. Father Au- 
bril to fill the vacancy. He has actively carried on all 
the work of the parish designed to strengthen the faith, 
increase piety, and relieve distress among the Catholics 
of French origin in the City of New York. 



Roll of Honor, 



CHURCH OF ST, VINCENT DE PAUL. 



Eloie Desloriers. 
Owen Duffy. 



Frank C. Fox. 
Louis F. Grenier. 



CHURCH OF SAINT VINCENT FERRER. 

LEXINGTON AVENUE. 



THE Holy See, in establishing' an Episcopal See 
at New York, evidently intended to make the 
city and State a field for the evangelical labors of the 
sons of St. Dominic, one of whom, Father William 
O'Brien, had done so much to organize and direct the 
oldest Catholic congregation in New York City. 

The first bishop selected for New York was the 
Rt. Rev. Richard Luke Concanen, a Dominican, who, 
when suddenly- cut off at Naples, was on his way to 
this city with means to found a house of the Order of 
Preachers, and all measm-es adopted to introduce at once 
into the diocese a long needed body of zealous and 
learned priests. 

His death defeated this noble design, and the Do- 
minicans of the West received the aid intended for New 
York. Bishop Connolly, also a member of tlie same 
order, could not command similar resoiu-ces, and New 
York for years failed to enjoy the benefit designed for 
it. One Father, the zealous Rev. Thomas Martin, labor- 
ed here alone for many years, as though to keep alive 



CHURCH OF ST. VINCENT FERRER. 719 

in tlie minds of the faithful what the Dominican Fathers 
were. 

The Fathers Preachers of the West at last felt that 
they owed a debt to New York, and in 1867, with the 
encouragement of the Most Reverend Archbishop, came 
to the city to found a conventual and parochial clim-ch, 
where the white-robed friars could break the bread of life 
to the Catholics of New York. 

They purchased a fine site on Lexington Avenue, 
between Sixty -fifth and Sixty-sixth Streets, in 1867, and 
at once began to lay the- foundation of a building to 
serve as a temporary church ; and when times permitted 
the erection of ^ .nobler edifice, the structure first raised 
would serve as an academy and lectm-e hall. 

The corner-stone was laid on the 10th day of Novem- 
ber, 1867, and was attended by a number of confrater- 
nities and temperance societies, which marched to the sj)ot. 
The ceremony was performed by his Grace the Most 
Reverend Archbishop McCloskey, who was surrounded by 
a large number of priests, rej)resenting the secular clergy 
and the various religious orders in and near the city. 
The Most Reverend Archbishop, after concluding the 
sacred rite, addressed the spectators in eloquent and edi- 
fying words, and the Dominican Father Wilson made a 
few remarks. 

The clim*cli was intended to be under the invoca- 
tion of St. Vincent Ferrer, one of the most apostolic 



720 



CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YOEK. 



men of the Dominican Order, who aroused faith and piety 
by his eloquence, his zeal, and his miracles in almost 
every country of Western Europe. 

When completed, the temporary church was a plain 
Gothic structm-e, one hundred and seventy-two feet long 
by seventy-five wide. The side walls of brick are thirty- 
five feet high; the rising roof giving the vault of the 
nave a height of fifty feet. The interior is beautiful : the 
ceiling is richly illuminated and frescoed; that over the 
aisles adorned with jDaintings of the life of our Divine 
Lord and the Blessed Virgin. The pews and the fittings 
are of hard wood, and the three altars of richly carved 
work ; the tabernacle being rich in white and gold. The 
Gothic screen behind is adorned with pictures of several 
saints of the order. The convent in the rear is forty feet 
square and four stories high. These buildings were grad- 
ually completed, without haste, and the church was sol- 
emnly dedicated on the 12th day of December, 1869. 

The Very Rev. George A. J. Wilson, of the Order of 
Preachers, was the first Superior and pastor, assisted by 
Fathers Turner, Byrne, McGovern, Slinger, and Cady, 
They soon won the esteem of the large congregation. 

In 1871, the Rev. Michael D. Lilly, O.P., became 
Superior, and when in 1874 the house received the rights 
and privileges of a convent he was appointed its first 
prior. He was succeeded in 1877 by tlie Very Rev, 
Joseph H. Slinger, O.P. 



CHUEOH OF ST. VINCENT FERRER. 721 

Among the Fathers who Avere attached to the church 
were the Eev. J. R. Meagher, O.P., 1871-6; Rev. J. V. 
Daly, O.R, 1871-8; Rev. C. H. McKenna, O.R, 1871-8; 
Rev. J. A. Rotchford, O.R, 1872-8; Rev. F. J. Dunne, 
1873-8. 

Besides their own church, the Dominican Fathers 
attend the Foundling Asylum, at the corner of Sixty- 
eighth Street and Third Avenue, the Little Sisters of the 
Poor in Seventieth Street, and the Catholic Protectory at 
Westchester; two of the religious being stationed at the 
Boys' Protectory. 

The Tliird Order of St. Dominic, composed • of per- 
sons living in the world, is established at the Conventual 
Church of St. Vincent Ferrer. The Fathers have insti- 
tuted also the Society of the Most Holy Name of Jesus 
for men and boys, the Confraternity of the Most Holy 
Rosary, the Sodality of St. Thomas or the Angelic War- 
fare, the Society of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, the Young 
Ladies' Sodality, the Ladies' Altar Society, and the Chiis- 
tian Doctrine Association, of one hundred and eighty 
members, who instruct seventeen hundred children in the 
principles of our holy faith, and have a library of thir- 
teen hundred volumes for their use. A conference of the 
Society of St. Vincent de Paul for the relief of the poor 
was organized soon after the establishment of the church. 
St. Vincent Ferrer's Temperance Benevolent Society is 

another organization in the parish. 
46 



722 CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 


Several 


of the Dominican Fathers are set apart es- 1 


pecially for 


the great work of 


giving missions in the 


various congregations, and their 


labors have been pro- 


ductive of great good. 




B 


.OLL OF .: 


-.ONOR. 


Andrews, Thomas. 


CHURCH OF ST. VINCEN 


rT FERRER. 

Moloney, James. 


Healy, Owen. 


Bennett, Patrick. 


Hennessey, John, Mrs. 


Monaghan, Roger. 


Barry, Thomas. 


Henry, Catharine T., Mrs. Moore, Stephen. | 


Bell, John A. 


Higgins, James. 


Moran, Dennis W. 


Boyle, Patrick. 


Higgins, Thomas, Mrs 


Muldoon, Bernard. 


Bradshaw, John. 


Horgan, Cornelius. 


Mulvany, Edward J, 


Brennan, Roger J. 


Hunt, Henry G. 


Murphy, Daniel P. 


Breslin, Michael P. 


Jordan, John. 


Naylor, Charles F. 


Brierly, John J. 


Kelly, Daniel. 


Nolan, Dennis P. 


Brown, Daniel. 


Kieran, Ellen. 


Norris, W^alter. 


Burke, James. 


Kilduff, Edward. 


Norton, Richard. 


Carey, James. 


King, James. 


O'Connell, Patrick. 


Clancy, Dennis T. 


Loonie, Dennis. 


O'Connor, John W. 


Clarke, Terence. 


Lynch, Bernard. 


O'Connor, Peter. 


Collins, Daniel F. 


Lynch, Thomas. 


O'Connor, WiUiam. 


Corcoran, John. 


Lyons, John D. 


O'Dea, Patrick. 


Courtney, J. 


Lyons, Patrick. 


O'Farrell, Mary. 


Courtney, N. 


Lyons, Timothy. 


O'Geary, Daniel. 


Creeden, John. 


Lyons, William. 


O'Mara, William. 


Cremin, Joseph W. 


McArdle, Peter. 


O'Reilly, Thomas. 


Crimmins, John D. 


McCabe, Hugh. 


O'Tool, John. 


Crimmins, Thomas. 


McCarron, John, Mrs. 


Ott, Joseph. 


Cronin, Michael. 


McDonald, D. J. 


Powers, Ann, Mrs. 


Cronogue, John. 


McDonald, John. 


Regan, Michael, Mrs. 


Crowley, William. 


McDonnell, James. 


Reilly, Edward, Mrs. 


Delmage, Michael. 


McElhone, Edward. 


Reilly, John T. 


Dennis, Jane E. 


McElroy, James. 


Reville, Thomas, Mrs. 


Devine, John. 


McGovern, Michael. 


Rigney, James. 


Donegan, Daniel M. 


McGuckin, Henry J. 


Rush, John. 


Doyle, John F. 


McGuire, Edward. 


Ryan, P. 


Dugan, Michael. 


McKay, Francis J. 


Sheehan, Kate, Mrs. 


Dunn, Lawrence. 


McKeon, John. 


Shepard, John. 


Dwyer, Timothy. 


McKilvey, John. 


Smith, John. 


Farley, Cornelius. 


McLarney, James E. 


Smith, Matthew. 


Farley, Patrick. 


McMahon, Thomas. 


Smith, Thomas. 


Finn, Daniel. 


McNamara, John P. 


Stack, Thomas. 


Fitzpatrick, John. 


Madden, John, Mrs. 


Stafford, Maggie. 


Fitzsimons, Nicholas 


Maguire, Thomas. 


Strachan, Mary Ann. 


Flynn, Michael. 


Mahon, Edward. 


Thornton, William J. 


Foy, Thomas, 


Mahon, Michael. 


Turner, Alicia. 


Geraty, Nicholas G. 


Maloney, Richard, Mrs 


Walsh, Patrick. 


Hanley, Edward. 


Martin, James F. 


Whetsteon, Nellie M. 


Hanley, Martin M. 


Miller, Dennis, Mrs. 


Williams, Daniel. 


Hannagan, William. 


Minnick, John, Mrs, 


Youngling, Henry. 



CHURCH OF ST. VINCENT FERRER. 723 



VERY REV. JOSEPH H. SLINGER, O.P., 

PEIOR OF THE CONVENT AND PASTOR OF THE CHURCH OF ST. 
VINCENT FERRER. 



THE Veiy Rev. Father Joseph H. Slinger, after the 
usual probation in the novitiate, entered the Order 
of St. Dominic, and, pursuing his theological course in the 
schools of that famous body, which gave the Church the 
prince of theologians in the person of St. Thomas Aquinas, 
was ordained priest December 5th, 1863. 

The young Father was first stationed at the Convent 
of St. Joseph's, Peny County, Ohio, one of the pioneer 
establishments of the order in the West. In 1864 we 
find him at a convent of his order at Sinsinawa Mound, 
in Wisconsin, but in the following jeav he was again 
engaged in missionary duty at St. Joseph's. 

In 1867 he was sent to New York City, and for 
two years labored assiduously among the congregation, 
who learned to appreciate his zeal and earnestness. 

From 1869 to 1872 he was prior of the Domin- 
ican Convent at Springfield, Kentucky, but in the latter 
year returned to New York. In 1874 he was made sub- 
prior of the convent, and in 1877 prior, and became 
pastor of the church. 



CHURCH OF OUR LADY OF THE HOLY ROSARY. 

MORTUARY CHAPEL, CALVARY CEMETERY, 



BESIDES the cliiirches within the limits of New 
York City, is one intimately connected with 
them, the Church of om- Lady of the Holy Rosary, 
standing amid its ever-increasing congregation of Catho- 
lic forms lying in their silent homes. 

The first cemetery used by the faithful in New 
York was the ground around old St. Peter's, the narrow 
space not occupied by the church. This was soon filled 
up, especially after the visitation of the city by the 
yellow fever. Some were then interred in Trinity church- 
yard. The Cathedral site was purchased, however, in 
1809, and a new cemetery was afforded to the Catholic 
body. The burial-ground was extended in 1824, by the 
purchase and blessing of the land between the original 
property and Prince Street. This cemetery for many 
years received the Catholic dead, including those removed 
from St. Peter's at the time it was rebuilt. But after 
the first cholera season the trustees of the Cathedral, 
finding that the ground in use nearly a quarter of a 
century was inadequate, in 1833 purchased of Charles 
Henry Hall a block of ground on First Avenue and 



CHURCH OF OUR LADY OF THE HOLY ROSARY. 725 

Eleventh Street. It was opened for use in December, 
1833, and was the Catholic place of interment for more 
than fifteen years. 

In 1848, the Most Rev. Archbishop Hughes pur- 
chased the Alsop Farm, on Newtown Creek, to afford a 
cemetery for the use of the Catholics of New York City. 
It was solemnly blessed in August, 1848, under the 
name of Calvary Cemetery, and has since been the great 
burial place of the Catholic body. The first interment 
was made on the second of August, 1848. Thither have 
since tended from all parts of New York City the long 
and sad processions, bearing devoted priest and Sister of 
Charity, religious and secular, ecclesiastic and layman. 
The wide acres are studded with monuments, from the 
simple cross to the elaborate and gorgeous tombs of the 
wealthy, palaces for the dead. 

In a few years there was felt the want of a suita- 
ble chapel here, where the burial service could be per- 
formed, and where mass could be offered by the attendant 
priest. Mr. Edward Boyle, the engineer of the cemetery, 
drew the plans of a church, and on their adoption erected 
the graceful chapel now standing in the city of the dead. 

It is a pure Gothic structure, cruciform, eighty feet 
in length and forty feet in width, the transepts twenty 
feet wide, being also eighty feet in length across. The 
clerestory roof, which is open, showing the main timbers, is 
supported by ten columns. The interior is lit by twelve 



726 



CATHOLIC CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 



stained-glass windows. Tlie Grothic altar has a spire of 
frosted silver and gold, the rest being white and gold. 
As it stands on an eminence at the north-west corner of 
the cemetery, with its tower and spire, this chm'ch is a 
striking object, and at once proclaims the faith of those 
who are borne from its nave to the tomb. 

The mortuary church was dedicated to the service of 
Almighty God on Sunday, October 3d, 1858, under the 
invocation of Our Lady of the Holy Rosary, by the 
Very Rev. William Starrs, Vicar Greneral, assisted by 
the Rev. Francis McNeimy and the Rev. Mr. Hennessy, 
chaplain of the cemetery. 

After the dedication a Solemn High Mass was offered 
by the pastor, the Rev. Mr. McNeirny acting as master of 
ceremonies. The Very Rev. Vicar Greneral preached, tak- 
ing as his text the words of HI. Kings, viii. 13: "Build- 
ing, I have built a house for Thy dwelling, to be Thy 
most firm throne forever." After describing the glory of 
Solomon's temple, he spoke of the dignity of the churches 
of the new law derived from the Real Presence, and 
showed the perpetuity of the faith of the Church in this 
dogma, and the plain warrant of Scripture. He concluded: 
" Here, in this mortuary chapel, where prayers will be 
offered up for the souls of the living and dead, what would 
it be without this sacrifice of the altar, the great sacri- 
fice of Mount Calvary? Take away this Christian sacri- 
fice, and religion is no more than the opinions of men. 



CHURCH OF OUR LADY OF THE HOLY ROSARY. 727 

Christ died for us. He offered himself up on Mount 
Calvary for the sins of the world, and He wishes this 
to be renewed for all time, even to the end of the 
world. You all know the object of this chapel. It is that 
the remains of Christians should be brought here before 
this altar, and the last rites of the Church should be per- 
formed over them. This church is dedicated to Almighty 
God, under the title of 'Our Lady of the Holy Rosary.' 
My brethren, let us beg at all times the intercession of 
the Holy Mother of Grod; let us ask her to present our 
petitions at all times, that at the hour of death we may 
be admitted to the happy mansion of everlasting bliss." 

The Rev. Patrick Hennessy remained chaplain of 
Calvary Cemetery and pastor of the Church of Our Lady 
of the Holy Rosary, till his death, January 26, 1861, 
when he was laid before the altar where he had so 
often pronounced the burial service. He was succeeded 
by the Rev. Thomas Joyce, who has for seventeen years 
zealously performed his duties in this isolated church. 

Though lying beyond the bounds of the city and 
diocese of New York, the Church of Our Lady of the 
Holy Rosary and Calvary Cemetery are in too close re- 
lation to the Catholic churches of New York City not to 
be mentioned in a work specially devoted to them. 

A Visitor's Gruide to Calvary Cemetery, with a map 
and views of several striking monuments, was prepared 
a year or two since by John J. Foster. 



THE CATHOLIC INSTITUTIONS OF NEW 
YORK CITY. 



BESIDES the churches which we have described, 
there are institutions in the City of New York, 
many of which possess beautiful and extensive chapels. 
It would require a volume to describe these institutions 
in detail, and sketch their history with the scope of the 
literary or charitable desig-n. 

COLLEGES. 



SAINT JOHN'S COLLEGE, FORDHAM. 

This is the oldest Catholic literary institution of the 
rank of a university in the City or State of New York. 
It is one of the great works of Archbishop Ilug-hes, who 
purchased the estate at Rose Hill in 1839, and opened 
St. John's College June 24, 1841, with the present 
Archbishop of New York, his Eminence Cardinal Mc- 
Closkey, as the first president. He gathered around him 
a talented faculty, and gave St. John's College a char- 
acter and standing which placed it at once in the fore- 
most rank. It was incoi*porated by the Legislatm'e April 
10, 1846. In the summer of the same year the Ai-ch- 



CATHOLIC INSTITUTIONS OF NEW YORK. 729 

bishop confided the college to the Fathers of the Society 
of Jesus, who have since directed it. 

Bishop Rosecrans of Columbus, John R. G. Hassard, 
one of the editors of the Tribune, and many distinguished 
in Church and State, were graduated at this institution. 

It has a fine library of twenty thousand volumes, 
and large cabinets of mineralogical and other specimens, 
as well as fine scientific apparatus. The president is the 
Rev. F. William Gockeln, S.J. 



COLLEGE OF SAINT FRANCIS XAVIER. 

This institution began as an academy in the Chui'ch 
of the Holy Name, Elizabeth Street, and was then in 
Third Avenue. In 1850, this academy was transferred to 
Fifteenth Street, between Fifth and Sixth Avenues, where 
the College of St. Francis Xavier had been erected, by 
Rev. John Ryan, S.J., the first president. It was incor- 
porated by the Regents of the University of the State 
of New York. It includes not only the University 
course, Post-graduate and Under-graduate, but the Gram- 
mar School classes, and a Commercial and Prepara- 
tory Department. 

It is a day college, no boarders being taken. 

The annual expense is very slight, and there have 
been a number of free scholarships founded by his Emi- 
nence Cardinal McCloskey, Mr. and Mrs. Daniel Devlin, 



730 



CATROLIC INSTITUTIONS OF NEW YORK. 



Jeremiah Devlin, Esq., Edward C. Donnelly, Esq., Eu- 
gene Kelly, Esq., Rev. F. H. Farrelly, St. James' Parish; 
W. S. Caldwell, Esq., Patrick Brophy, Esq., Hugh O'Don- 
ohue, Esq. 

The president at this time is ihe Rev. H. Hudon. 



MANHATTAN COLLEGE. 

This institution, situated on the corner of Broadway 
and One Hundred and Thirty-first Street, is directed by 
the Brothers of the Christian Schools, who were intro- 
duced from France by the late Rev. Annet Lafont, and 
opened their first academy in Canal Street, near the 
Church of St. Vincent de Paul. The present college 
was founded in 1853, as the Academy of the Holy In- 
fancy, and has a fine large edifice, on an elevated position, 
about eight miles from the City Hall. It was chartered 
as a university in 1863, and combines the system of col- 
lege and polytechnic school. 

The students all board in the institution. 

The president of Manhattan College, in 1878, is 
Brother Anthony. 



DE LA SALLE INSTITUTE. 

This academy is situated at Nos. 46, 48, and 50 
Second Street, and is a High School, affording every 



CATHOLIC INSTITUTIONS OF NEW YORK. 731 

opportunity for a thorough course, either in preparation 
for commercial Hfe or for entrance to college. The 
director is Brother Frank. It has now two hundred and 
thirty pupils. 



MANHATTAN ACADEMY. 

This Academy, also under the direction of the Bro- 
thers of the Christian Schools, is situated at No, 213 
West Thirty-second Street, and receives both boarding 
and day scholars. It has at present two hundred and 
twenty scholars. The director is Brother Bertram. 

The last tlrree institutions are under the care of the 
Brothers of the Cln:istian Schools, an order founded in 
France in the seventeenth century by the Ven. John 
Baptist de la Salle. He was a native of Rheims, and 
became a canon in the Cathedral. The neglected state 
of the children of the poor aroused the charity of the 
good priest, and he established an order of Brothers to 
conduct schools. He invented the mutual simultaneous 
system, and originated normal schools. The rule drawn 
up by this holy priest was approved by Pope Benedict 
XIII. The Brothers are all laymen, none of them being 
raised to the priesthood. They number now about ten 
thousand, and conduct at least twelve hundred schools. 



732 



CATHOLIC INSTITUTIONS OF NEW YORK. 



THE SISTERS OF CHARITY. 
MOUNT ST. Vincent's academy, local academies, asylums, 

HOSPITALS. 

The Sisters of Charity, as founded by Mother Seton, 
now belong entirely to the community in the Diocese of 
New York, those elsewhere in the United States having 
abandoned her rule and habit. This pious lady founded, 
at Emmettsburg, Maryland, in 1809, a community, for 
which she adopted a rule based on that of St. Vincent 
de Paul, it being, at that time, impossible to obtain Sis- 
ters from France to organize a branch in this country. 
The community spread through the country, and were 
introduced into New York in 1817. 

In time the Sisters at Emmettsburg effected a union 
with the Sisters of Charity in France, adopting their rule 
and habit; but those in New York retained them and es- 
tablished a Mother House at Mount St. Vincent, One Hun- 
dred and Fifth Street, New York; but as their grounds 
were included in the limits of the Central Park, and were 
taken by the city, they removed to their present site, 
Mount St. Vincent, near Riverdale on the Hudson. The 
estate had belonged to Edwin Forrest, who built there a 
castellated house, still standing. The Sisters, in 1859, 
erected a fine large building in the Byzantine style, with 
a tower two hundi-ed and ninety feet above the water 
level. The chapel is an elegant structure, the comer- 



CATHOLIC INSTITUTIONS OF NEW YORK. 733 

stone of whicli was laid by Archbisliop Hughes, on the 
8th of September, 1857. It has a nave, with the roof 
supported by arches springing from chaste columns ; the 
panels of the vault are adorned with frescoes of the Joy- 
ful Mysteries ; the aisle and nave lead up to altars of 
white marble, the high altar being exquisitely wrought, 
and behind the tabernacle is seen the altar-piece, a fine 
Crucifixion; confessionals are artistically disposed at the 
side in harmony with the general character of the 
church. The chaplain who has for many years ministered 
here is the Rev. Louis Musard. They have also a Grotto 
of Lourdes, dedicated December 8, 1874, and enriched by 
the late Pope Pius IX. with special indulgences. 

The community numbers six hundred and sixteen 
members, who direct academies, parochial schools, hospitals, 
asylums, and visit the sick and poor at their residences. 
The Superior General is Mother Jerome. Their chief 
institutions within the limits of New York City are : — 
Mount St. Vincent Academy, at Mount St. Vincent on 
the Hudson, one of the oldest and most creditable of 
our literary institutions, where thousands of young 
ladies have received an accomplished education. It 
contains at present 220 pupils. 
St. Peter's Select School, 16 Barclay Street. Pupils, 87. 
St. Mary's School, 229 to 231 East Broadway. Pupils, 90. 
St. Bridget's Academy, 313 to 315 E. Tenth Street. Pu- 
pils, 110. 



734 



CATHOLIC INSTITUTIONS OF NEW YORK. 



St. Joseph's Academy, 194 W. Fourth Street. Pupils, 40. 
Academy of St. Angela, 350 W. Twenty-second Street. 

Pupils, 50. 
St G-abriel's Academy, 229 to 231 E. Thirty-sixth Street. 

Pupils, 120. 
Holy Cross Academy, 343 W. Forty-second Street. Pu- 
pils, 150. 
St. Vincent's Industrial School. Pupils, 160. 
St. Lawrence's Academy, Eighty-fourth Street. Pupils, 87. 
St. John the Evangelist's Select Female School. Pupils, 5. 
Are all academies for day scholars only, conducted 
by the Sisters within the City of New York. 

The Sisters of Charity also direct St. Patrick's Female 
Orphan Asylum, at the corner of Prince and Mott Streets, 
the oldest of the Catholic charitable institutions, dating 
back to 1817. Here are maintained and educated two 
hundred and ten orphan girls. The chaplain who at- 
tends the institution and officiates daily in the chapel is 
a priest of remarkable literary ability, the Rev. Bernard 
O'Keilly, author of a Life of Pope Pius IX., "True 
Womanhood," &c. 

St. Patrick's Male Orphan Asylum, on Fifth Avenue, 
between Fifty-first and Fifty-second Streets, stands on 
ground leased at a nominal rent to the institution by 
the city as long as an asylum is maintained there. One 
of the strong motives laid before the Common Council at 
the time was the fact that the capitation tax laid by the 



CATHOLIC INSTITUTIONS OF NEW YORK. 735 

State on emigrants, then cliiefly Catholics, had been 
squandered on every conceivable object, tens of thou- 
sands of dollars having- been given from the fund to 
negro institutions, while this Catholic asylum was sup- 
porting the children of the very emigrants who had paid 
the money. The Asylum is a large and well conducted 
institution, in charge of the Sisters of Charity, and con- 
taining five hundred and twenty orphans. The chapel 
is attended from the Church of St. John the Evangelist. 

The new Female Orphan Asylum, on the corner of 
Madison Avenue and East Fifty-second Street, contains 
five hundred and ten orphan girls, under the care of the 
Sisters of Charity. Their chapel is attended from the 
Church of St. John the Baptist. 

The Sisters of Charity have charge also of the fe- 
male department of the New York Catholic Protectory, 
'which is beyond the city limits. Within them eight 
Sisters direct also St. Stephen's Home for Destitute Chil- 
dren, at No. 145 East Twenty-eighth Street, with one 
hundred and forty-one inmates, and thence visit the Catho- 
lics in Bellevue Hospital, as well as the sick and poor 
of the parish of St. Stephen. 

The New York Foundling Asylum, Sixty-eighth 
Street, between Third and Lexington Avenues, founded 
by Sister Mary Irene, and conducted by her and other 
Sisters of Charity, is one of the most wonderful institu- 
tions in New York City. No such asylum had ever 



736 



CATHOLIC INSTITUTIONS OF NEW YORK. 



been established, and the public were appalled at the 
frequency of infanticide and exposure of infants. The 
Sisters resolved to open an institution Avhicli would save 
some of these helpless creatures. It was an immense 
undertaking, but by the public aid they are able to 
receive and care for immense nimibers. They have now 
about eighteen hundred fomidlings. As they grow up, 
some are adopted; others learn trades to enable them to 
support themselves. The boys, on arriving at a suitable 
age, are sent to the Children's Home at Han-ison, West- 
chester County, where they are instructed and learn some 
employment until places are found for them. There are 
now about a hundred and fifty there. The chapel of their 
asylum in New York is attended from St. Vincent Ferrer's. 
The chapel at St. Vincent's Hospital, on Eleventh 
Street, near Seventh Avenue, originally a half orphan 
asylum, is the great Catholic hospital of New York City, 
It was founded by the devoted Sisters, in 1849, on East 
Thirteenth Street, • between Third and Fourth Avenues. 
It was chartered in 1857, and subsequently removed to 
the present building, which was enlarged and fitted up for 
hospital pm'poses chiefly by means derived from a great 
fair in which all the city churches joined. St. Vincent's 
Hospital receives every year nearly a thousand patients. 
A few, and only a few, free beds have been founded 
by the generosity of Catholics of means. Their chapel 
is attended from St. Francis Xavier's. 



CATHOLIC INSTITUTIONS OF NEW YORK. 737 

The Sisters of Charity show their heroism in con- 
fronting that dangerous disease the small-pox, and take 
charge of a city institution for the reception of those 
overtaken by it — the Riverside Hospital for Small Pox 
Patients, situated on BlackAvell's Island. This institution 
was placed under the care of seven Sisters of Charity, 
on the 3d of February, 1875. The number of patients 
has been about three thousand every year, and while all 
receive alike the kindest and most devoted care, the 
Catholic patients have also spiritual aid from the self- 
sacrificing Sisters who brave disease to serve them. 

Another institution of the Sisters of Charity is the 
St. Joseph's Home for Aged and Destitute Women, at 
Nos. 203 to 209 West Fifteenth Street. It was opened 
on the 11th of May, 1868, and had always about two 
hundred and fifty inmates. 



LADIES OF THE SACRED HEART. 

CONVENT AND ACADEMY OF THE SACRED HEART, 
MANHATTANVILLE. 

This religious order, devoted entirely to the cause 
of female education, and especially to the highest and 
most accomplished Chi-istian training of young ladies, Avas 
founded in France by Madame Magdalen Josephine Barat, 

in 1800, under the guidance of the Jesuit Father Varin. 

47 



CATHOLIC INSTITUTIONS OF NEW YORK. 739 

Their rule was approved, in 1826, by Pope Leo 
XII., who invited them to Rome, where they established 
three convents. 

Their first establishment in the United States was at 
Florissant, Missouri, in 1817. Archbishop Hughes, in 
1841, obtained from the venerable Superior, Madame Ba- 
rat, a colony of her religious, and the convent in New 
York was founded by Madame Elizabeth Galitzin, a Rus- 
sian princess. Their first house was in Houston Street, 
then in Bleecker Street, but as the city was unsuited 
to a large boarding-school, they removed to Astoria, in 
1844. Two years afterwards they purchased the Loril- 
lard estate, at Manhattanville, and established the best 
Catholic academy for young ladies in the diocese. 
Pupils of the highest social standing, Catholic and Prot- 
estant, have been trained here in all the culture and 
accomplishments which can adorn the sex, and the reli- 
gious instruction is solid. There are now thi'ee hundred 
pupils. 

Their elegant chapel is attended by the Rev. A. 
Kesseler of St. Joseph's Church. 

ACADEMY OP THE SACEED HEAET, SEVENTEENTH STREET. 

Besides their boarding-school at Manhattanville, they 
have their academy in Seventeenth Street for day schol- 
ars only, where the course is thorough and careful. The 
attendance is one hundred and thirty. Their neat chapel 



740 



CATHOLIC INSTITUTIONS OF NEW YORK. 



is attended by the Fathers of the College of St. Francis 
Xavier. 

The Ladies of the Sacred Heart, in addition to their 
labors in instructing the young ladies in their academies, 
teach the parochial school for girls in the parish of St. 
Francis Xavier, the four hundred and twenty-five schol- 
ars requiring the care of seven ladies. 

They instruct the girls in the parochial school of 
St. Joseph's Church, Manhattanville, numbering two hun- 
dred. 



THE SISTEES OF MERCY. 

This community, devoted to the corporal and spirit- 
ual works of mercy, was founded in Ireland by Cath- 
arine McAuley, in 1827, and took its position as an 
order on the 12th of December, 1831, when she, with 
two of her associates, took the solemn vows of religion. 
The Order of Mercy spread rapidly, and applications 
came from all parts for Sisters to found houses under 
their rule. It was introduced into the United States in 
1843, the first house being in Pittsburgh. Archbishop 
Hughes made application for members, and seven Sisters 
an-ived from Dublin, May 15th, 1846, who founded St. 
Catharine's Convent, New York, at No. 18 West Washing- 
ton Place. They at once began their labor of love, visiting 
the sick, making up clothing for the destitute, instruct- 



CATHOLIC INSTITUTIONS OF NEW YORK. 741 

ing the ignorant in their Christian doctrine, and in pro- 
viding shelter for female domestics. The establishment 
was subsequently transferred, in 1848, to the large build- 
ing at the corner of Houston and Mulberry Streets, 
Their establishments now are St. Catharine's Convent of 
Mercy, No. 35 East Houston Street, with fifty professed 
choir Sisters, twelve professed lay Sisters, arid seven 
novices. They visit the sick and dying poor in their 
houses and at the hospital. They also visit the city 
prison and the State Prison at Sing Sing, where they 
'instruct the inmates in their moral and religious duties. 
Adjoining the convent, at No. 33 East Houston Street, is 
the House of Mercy, where two hundred female domestics 
out of situations can be accommodated. During their 
stay they receive religious instructions from the Sisters, 
and, when necessary, in the duties of their station to fit 
them for obtaining suitable situations. This institution is 
one, therefore, where families can reckon upon obtaining 
servants on whom they can depend. 

The Sisters also conduct, at No. 128 East Fifty- 
fourth Street, near Lexington Avenue, St. John's Acade- 
my of Cm- Lady of Mercy, and St. Joseph's Industrial 
School and Home for Homeless Children, Madison Ave- 
nue and East Eighty-first Street. This branch of the In- 
stitution of Mercy is intended for the protection of young 
o-irls and children of unblemished morals, whose circum- 
stances render them fit subjects for such an establish- 



742 



CATHOLIC INSTITUTIONS OF NEW YORK. 



ment. The children are provided with the comforts of 
a home, receive a plain English education, are carefully 
instructed in their religious duties, and are trained to 
some trade or useful occupation. It contains five hundred 
and fifty inmates. 



SISTEES OF THE GOOD SHEPHERD. 

One of the greatest charities in the Church is seen 
in those good ladies who renounce the world and de- 
vote their lives to reclaim those of their sex who have 
been led astray from the path of virtue, and forming 
those who show a disposition for a life of devotion and 
reparation into a community under their roof The Re- 
ligious of Our Lady of Charity of the Grood Shepherd 
were founded originally in the seventeenth century, in 
France, by an apostolic priest, the Rev. John Eudes ; 
they were revived after the French Revolution, and the 
house founded at Angers, in 1828, became the Mother 
House of the present organization, approved by his Holi- 
ness March 10, 1835. They were introduced into the 
United States by the venerable Bishop Flaget, and ar- 
rived at Louisville December 1, 1842. Their convent in 
New York was established on the 2d of October, 1857, 
at No. 191 East Fourteenth Street, by five religious. 



CATHOLIC INSTITUTIONS OF NEW YORK. 743 

Novices soon joined tliem, and the work was so great 
that in 1861 they had, besides their community, eighty 
penitents in the house, so that they erected, on property 
purchased on Eighty-nintli Street, a convent, with a large 
and beautiful chapel adjoining. 

In 1864, a five-story building fronting on Eighty-nintli 
Street was erected, but in September, 1868, it was found 
necessary to continue this through to Ninetieth Street, 
forming a continuous building fifty feet in front by one 
hundred and eighty feet in depth. The erection of these 
buildings cost nearly two "hundred thousand dollars. 

Mother Mary of St. Magdalen of Jesus Clover is 
the Provincial and Superioress, with' thirty-four professed 
choir Sisters, nineteen professed lay sisters, fifteen chon 
novices, sixteen lay novices, four postulants, and eight 
out-door Sisters. They have under their charge nearly 
fom' hundred penitents, some of whom have entered of 
then- own free choice, while others are committed by the 
action of the magistrates. 

Besides these there are in the Magdalen House of 
Reformed Penitents, under the rule of the Third Order 
of St. Teresa, sixty-five professed Sisters, four novices, 
two postulants, who are directed by the Sisters of the 
Good Shepherd. 

The chapel is attended by the Fathers of St 
Joseph's Church, Yorkville. 



744 



CATHOLIC INSTITUTIONS OF NEW YORK. 



THE LITTLE SISTERS OF THE POOR. 

This Order, one of the marvels of the nineteenth 
century, has a convent, with a Home for the Aged, at 
No. 179 East Seventieth Street, near Third Avenue. 
They have under their charge one hundred and fifty- 
eight aged persons, for whom they obtain food and cloth- 
ing, and all whose wants they supply. The community 
numbers fom-teen sisters, besides whom there are several 
postulants. 

The Little Sisters of the Poor were founded at St. 
Servan, France, in 1840, by M. Le Pailleur, and b}^ the 
example of their devotedness and poverty were welcomed 
everywhere. They were introduced into the United States 
by the late Mrs. Peters of Cincinnati. Their first house 
in New York was established in 1870. 



THE SISTERS MARIANITES OF THE HOLY CROSS 

have a Mother House at Le Mans, in France. In New 
York City they direct St. Vincent de Paul's Orphan Asy- 
lum, at No. 215 West Thirty-ninth Street, which contains 
one hundred and fifty orphans. The community numbers 
thirteen Sisters and two postulants, and they direct also 
the Select French and English Parochial School for girls 
connected with the Chm'ch of St. Vincent de Paul. 



CATHOLIC INSTITUTIONS OF NEW YORK. 745 

URSULINES. 

The Ursuline Nuns were founded by St. Angela de 
Merici, in 1535, and they were confirmed by Pope Paul 
III., in 1544. A convent of this excellent Order, which 
has always been eminent for its young ladies' academies, 
was founded at Quebec, March 28, 1639, by Mother 
Mary of the Incarnation, whose canonization is now in 
progress. Another house was established at New Orleans in 
1727. A convent was founded in New York in 1812, 
but did not continue. With happier results one was estab- 
lished at East Morrisania, in 1855, under the patronage 
of St. Joseph. This now contains thirty-nine professed 
religious, four noAaces, and four postulants. Their acad- 
emy numbers sixty pupils. Their chapel is attended by 
Fathers from St. John's College, Fordham. 

A filiation from St. Joseph's founded a convent at 
139 Henry Street, New York, now numbering twelve 
nuns, who have an academy with one hundred pupils, 
and also direct the parish school of St. Teresa's Church, 
numbering five hundred girls. 



THE MISSIONARY SISTERS OF THE THIRD 
ORDER OF SAINT FRANCIS 

have their Mother House at Peekskill, Westchester Co., 
where they direct a large academy for young ladies. 



746 



CATHOLIC INSTITUTIONS OF NEW YORK. 



In New York City tliey have houses' in Macdougal 
Street and West Thirty-first Street, and direct the girls' 
parochial schools connected with the Church of St. 
Francis of Assisi and St. Anthony of Padua. 



THE SISTERS OF THE POOR OF SAINT FRANCIS. 

The Mother House was at Aix la Chapelle, in Grer- 
many. They came to the United States in 1857. These 
Sisters have a convent in Fifth Street, near Avenue A, 
and have charge of St. Francis' Hospital, 605, 607, 609, 
and 611 Fifth Street, where thirty Sisters and five pos- 
tulants have charge of more than two hundred patients. 

They have also a second institution in the city, St 
Elizabeth's Hospital, at 225 West Thirty-first. 



THE SCHOOL SISTERS OF NOTRE DAME. 

They were founded in 1597 by Mother Alice le 
Clerc, under the guidance of the Blessed Peter Fourier. 
The Order was revived at Ratisbon in 1832, and con- 
firmed by Pope Pius IX. in 1854. They were first 
established in the United States in 1847, and have four 
convents in New York City — in Fourth, Eighty-ninth, 
West Forty-ninth, and Thompson Streets — and teach the 
girls in the parochial schools at the Church of the Most 
Holy Redeemer, St. Alphonsus, and the Assumption, and 
direct St Joseph's Orphan Asylum. 



CATHOLIC INSTITUTIONS OF NEW YORK. 747 

THE SISTERS OF THE OEDER OF SAINT 
DOMINIC 

have three convents, and direct St. Nicholas' girls' school 
and free industrial school, and the j)arochial schools of 
Our Lady of Sorrows and St. John the Baptist. 



SAINT MICHAEL'S CONVENT OF THE PRESEN- 
TATION NUNS. 

This order of nuns was founded at Cork, in Ire- 
land, by Miss Honoria Nagle, in 1777, and was approved 
by the Holy See in 1791. They were at first Sisters 
visiting the sick, but in 1805 became cloistered nuns. 
They were introduced into the United States in 1854. St. 
Michael's Convent was founded September 24, 1874, and 
the community now contains nine professed, six novices, 
and some postulants. These excellent religious direct the 
girls' school of St. Michael's parish, containing about one 
thousand girls. 



THE SISTERS OF CHRISTIAN CHARITY 

have a convent at Mebose, and direct the parochial schools. 
The Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Mary have an industrial 
school in Thirty-first Street, and a religious community 



748 



CATHOLIC INSTITUTIONS OF NEW YOUK. 



are in charge of St. Joseph's Academy, boarding and 
day school for young ladies, and boarding school for 
deaf mutes at Fordham. 



THE MISSION OF THE IMMACULATE VIROIN. 

One of the great Catholic charities of New York 
City is the Mission of the Immaculate Virgin, 53 War- 
ren Street, New York, founded and still directed by the 
Rev. John Drumgoole. Its object is to protect and 
shelter homeless and destitute boys. It affords a home 
to two hundred and forty boys, whom it trains to vir-^ 
tue and piety. 



I 



m: 




IKIHraiUii 



